Miscellaneous

That Guy

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Sing it with us!

Defendant fendant bo-bendant, banana fana fo fendant, fee fi mo mendant, Defendant!

When a defendant has several aliases and one of the issues is his sanity (proof being that he believes himself to be one of the Rockefellers), what to call said defendant during trial is a puzzle.

Such is the case of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a.k.a. (or perhaps b.k.a.) Clark Rockefeller, who is charged with kidnapping.

This case is unusual in so many respects that it doesn't appear to present a teaching moment. But we like the creative compromise by which the prosecutor/defendant name-game conflict was resolved. The defense attorneys will call him by his alias (Rockefeller); the prosecution will call him by his legal name, Gerhartsreiter; the judge will simply call him The Defendant.

We doubt the jury will be confused. They might wonder why, though, and that why could lurk in the backs of their minds when deliberating. Who that helps, we can't quite say. Will be interesting.

See 2 Names for Defendant in Mass. Rockefeller Trial, Denise Lavoie, AP (May 26, 2009).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on May 26, 2009 (boomark / email).