FL - Lawyer's pants catch fire during arson trial

[BetteDavisEyes]

Mar 9 2017, 12:04 pm ET

Lawyer’s Pants Catch Fire During Florida Arson Trial

by Kalhan Rosenblatt

It seemed like a set up to a tired joke: A lawyer's pants caught on fire.

But on Wednesday, it was Stephen Gutierrez's reality when the Florida defense attorney's pants began smoking during an arson trial, Eleventh Circuit Court Public Relations Director Eunice Sigler confirmed to NBC News Thursday.

Gutierrez, 28, was in the in the Miami-Dade county courtroom defending 49-year-old Claudy Charles, who was accused of setting his car alight, when the lawyer began playing with an item in his pocket, according to the Miami Herald...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lawyer-s-pants-catch-fire-during-florida-arson-trial-n731161

 

[meanmaryjean]

I can just imagine the headline writers duking it out over who gets this story.....

 

[tlcya]

The lawyer reportedly blamed the blaze on a faulty battery in an e-cigarette, and insisted it wasn’t a staged defence demonstration gone wrong.


“It was surreal,” a witness told the newspaper.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...s-fire-attorneys-trousers-erupt-flames-arson/

Repeated calls to Gutierrez’s cellphone went unanswered. Miami-Dade police and prosecutors are now investigating the episode. Officers seized several frayed e-cigarette batteries as evidence.


“A lot of people could have been hurt,” another observer in court told the Miami Herald.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article137317553.html#storylink=cpy

 

[LietKynes]

Can't make this up..... Crazy ! heeheehee !!!!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I hope the attorney hadn't been tap dancing around the truth in the arson case.

Liar. Liar.
Pants on fire.

 

[JanetElaine]

I hope the attorney hadn't been tap dancing around the truth in the arson case.

Liar. Liar.
Pants on fire.

So glad you said it. I didn't want to be the one. LOL

 

[YESorNO]

so :facepalm:

:angel:

(from your article BDE)
"Reports of electronic cigarette batteries exploding have been documented across the country. Battery malfunctions have been known to cause burns on the hands and face, fractured bones and even loss of eyesight..."

I read about this some time ago- not really funny.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

Heard about this story this morning and thought immediately how convenience that was. As a paralegal who is working 2 cases dealing with the lithium batteries in e-cigarettes blowing up, I know it happens. But it is usually more of an explosion.

I love coincidences, and this one - if it is one - is pretty good.

That said, I just laugh. Seemed it had no bearing on the jury's decision to find the defendant guilty of arson anyway. so ha ha.

 

[HMSHood]

Ironic. :crazy:

 

[Deleted member 122964]

:happydance::happydance::happydance:Best. Headline. Ever.

Seriously, what a crazy, funny courtroom story! I imagine the attorney's spouse asking him how his day in court went. "Babe, I was on fire!"

Cracked me up...

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

:happydance::happydance::happydance:Best. Headline. Ever.

Seriously, what a crazy, funny courtroom story! I imagine the attorney's spouse asking him how his day in court went. "Babe, I was on fire!"

Cracked me up...

What a hottie

 

[Indy Anna]

If the defendant gets a new attorney, could he seek a mistrial if:

1. He claims the lawyer himself was an arsonist.
2. He claims the lawyer immediately looked at him when he noticed the smoke? If your own lawyer doesn't trust you, how will the jury/judge?
3. He claims his lawyer was incompetent and made him look bad by starting a fire during his trial?

I don't know that the defendant will file for a mistrial, but I can't imagine what he or anyone else was thinking when they saw smoke billowing from the lawyers pants. When I read the title of the thread, I couldn't stop laughing! :giggle: What's next--will a lawyer spontaneously combust?

:devil: <------ lawyer (JK!)

 

[Irishboy]

Liar liar
Pants on fire

Sorry that was to obvious