Hopefully most of us are lucky enough not to end up in a courtroom in our lives, but in today's litigious society it's more than likely we will. If so, we can only pray that our court experience goes better than it did for these people. These stories of court proceedings gone horribly wrong will strike fear into anyone about to appear before the judge.
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30. Hot tip: don't do this.
Prosecutor here. I showed up for a bond hearing one morning and the defendant asked the judge if he could say something. The first words out of his mouth were:
"Heyo Judge, look, like, the reason I hit her was because she disrespected me."
He did not prevail.
29. Maybe it was his lucky sweater.
A client screwed himself over when he went to jury trial for a burglary charge and wore the same, distinct sweatshirt he wore the night he committed the crime - which the prosecutor was able to shoe in surveillance video. Kind of hard to argue the guy in the video isn't your client at that point. Needless to say he was convicted and spent a few years in DOC.
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28. Massive ego gets court-marshalled.
There’s a lawyer in my town who has a reputation for being a real jerk. He left a very successful firm to go off on his own. He and the firm negotiated which clients he would take, and how eventual fees from those clients would be divided. All seemed fine and dandy.
As soon as he’s out the door, he sues his old firm saying the deal is unenforceable and that he should get 100% of the fees from the clients who came with him. He lost, and appealed, lost again and appealed to the state Supreme Court where they shut him down and, in extremely diplomatic language, pretty much called him a loser.
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27. Petty payback costs more than petty cash.
I had a client who after she got divorced, she wanted to file jointly with her ex-husband for the previous year because they were still married at the time. They would have gotten a decent refund. He insisted on filing separately, despite the fact that he would owe 4k, because he wanted her to also owe the IRS. He did it to get back at her.
26. Criminals aren't usually known for their honesty...
Sitting waiting for my client and the judge is giving a mass colloquy for an alternative program on a DUI. Basically probation if they've been on good behaviour.
He asked the group of defendants, "Has anyone consumed any illegal substances in the last 24 hours?"
One dude proudly raises his hand - "I smoked some last night..."
He did not get probation.
25. It's not always the jury that's biassed.
One time, I saw an indigent defendant who was in custody tell the judge his public defender wasn't working hard enough and he wanted the judge to appoint different counsel. The judge asked him what specifically was the problem and he said "I don't want a female lawyer. I need a man who can take charge and fight for me," or something very similar to that. The judge (also female) said that's not how it works, then he starting yelling and getting into specifics about his public defender, just mainly I don't like her, she won't visit me, etc. The judge is annoyed and looks at him and is like fine, I'll appoint another attorney for you, but because you are not satisfied with your attorney and I need time to appoint you new counsel I am not going to hear any other issues today and will reset your case.
A few days later the judge sends defendant notice of his new appointed attorney, who happens to also be female, and notice of the case reset for six weeks. The case was originally set for a bond hearing and the DA and his PD had agreed to release him on an unsecured bond meaning he would have gotten out that day, if he hadn't thrown his temper tantrum. Instead he waited another six weeks in jail just to have another female attorney represent.
24. That backfired.
A wife filed for a restraining order because she wanted the house during divorce. Husband has a good job, like 200k per year. Employer finds out about restraining order, husband is fired. He was a very specialized employee so the only job he can find close to the house, his ex-wife, and his daughter is 50k.
All of a sudden he could no longer support them in the style to which they'd become accustomed. House gets foreclosed. Child support at less than $500 per month. Wife has to get job as waitress. Four cars get repossessed.
23. Custody battle turns into all-out war.
Was involved in a custody case where a wife cheated on her husband and had a child as a result. She let the husband believe the child was his until she was about five years old and they were divorcing. To stop him from getting custody, she convinced the biological father (the man she cheated with) to try to get custody thinking that if he won she would wind up with the child. Became a huge three way fight, multiple sets of grandparents involved, attorneys fees skyrocketed because the case would have been pretty quick otherwise. She couldn’t pay her attorney, tried to get the bio dad to, got even messier, etc. Basically there still isn’t an agreement all parties will follow. They are in and out of court every year or so. She screwed herself.
22. Severing assets is never pretty.
This wasn’t my case but followed it closely because it was an acquaintance’s divorce proceedings. He and his now ex-wife shared some commercial property that was worth some dough. They were both on the paperwork/had access to the same info. Well some stuff hit the fan and the property was in arrears and I think some lien was filed. The husband would try to talk to his then wife about the whole thing and she would blow him off. Not only would she ignore him and the finances, she started cheating on him.
Fast forward to divorce. It’s contentious and they get down to fighting for the primary residence whose market value (unemcumbered) is much less than the commercial building. She demanded the house and the husband effectively offered to give her the commercial building if he could keep the residence. She never paid attention to how bad off the commercial building was and for some strange reason her lawyer didn’t do any due diligence so they took the deal.
I don’t know if the asset allocation included any saving conditions or caveats for the ex wife, but I did like to see that her own disinterest may have led to bargaining for an under water property instead of a paid off house.
21. Don't anger the witness.
I had a client who was accused of a very nasty sexual offence. He had an alibi: he was at work, where he was the boss. He had an employee who could absolutely vouch for his being there. I talked to the employee, employee confirmed this.
It gets closer to the trial, and around the time when I need to send in an "alibi notice", which is advance notice to the Crown so that they can investigate the alibi and determine whether or not it's true. But, I am being careful, so I call the employee up again.
Turns out my client fired him in the interim, and so the employee quite candidly tells me, "Oh, yeah, he was definitely at work. But that's not what I'll say in court. Screw that guy, he is going down."
I did not call him as a witness, or file the alibi notice.
Still won the trial, but if I hadn't thought to call the guy, or if he'd been less candid, my client's life would have been over. Sex offender registry, jail time, the works, just because he fired someone. He was completely innocent.
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20. Don't quibble over language.
Not a lawyer, legal assistant. My attorney is pretty old so he needs me to help him find papers in stuff in the courtroom so I go over for all domestic and criminal cases. We had a custody case where the mom was already screwed because she was literally picked up by a bounty hunter while the dad was there getting their daughter for visitation.
Anyway, dad’s new wife gets on stand and testifies that the mom, the defendant, threatened to blow their house up. Mom gets on stands and says, “I didn’t threaten to blow your house up. I threatened to blow you up.”
That was it for her case.
Image by Alexander Antropov from Pixabay
19. Landed himself in jail.
Had a criminal jury trial for misdemeanor Criminal Mischief over 4 years ago. State filed charges and kept amending the Information to the point where they left the ACTUAL VICTIM out of the trial and proceeded with the two eyewitnesses. Well, one of the witnesses was my client's ex and the other witness was the ex's new girlfriend. They claimed my client vandalized the ACTUAL VICTIM's car. Client denied everything.
Well, apparently, the State and both Witnesses had no idea that the ex had a outstanding warrant for not paying child support to MY CLIENT which created a motive for him to lie. I asked him if he was aware that he had a warrant out for his arrest on the stand. He didn't know. The Judge excused the jurors. The bailiffs arrested the ex on the stand. State rested. Judge granted our Motion for Judgment of Acquittal because we had good case law for the victim not being there. Client walked away free and the ex went to jail.
18. Don't read too much into it.
Not a lawyer, but my dad is a physician and is sometimes called as a professional witness in cases of malpractice. In one memorable case, a family was suing a doctor for something fairly frivolous, and my dad was a witness for the defense.
The lawyer representing the family was cross-examining my dad, and brought up a chapter in a medical textbook and asked my dad to read a highlighted paragraph. He does, and the lawyer says something to the effect of, "So, what you just read means <blah blah medical thing>."
My dad confidently replied, "No, it does not mean that."
Lawyer: "No but if you read xyz, the author clearly states <blah blah medical thing>."
Dad: "No, really, that's not what the author means."
Lawyer: "How do you know that's not what the author meant?"
Dad: "Well, because I wrote it."
Judge basically face-palmed while the lawyer mimicked a goldfish and stared at the author name on the chapter. Basically the best moment of my dad's professional life. (Yes, ruling was in the defendant's favor.)
17 . Putting the law in in-law.
A witness for the plaintiff in a civil suit, who was a co-worker of the plaintiff testified very strongly against the company and in favor of the plaintiff. I questioned her about bias toward the plaintiff, if they knew each other well, were friends, etc. She said, no just friendly co-workers, "work friends" at best. I pinned her to it.
When I got a chance to cross-examine the plaintiff, she had no choice but to burn her witnesses credibility, because not only were they very close friends, but they had become sisters-in-law just a few years before. They did not have the same last name or anything, but I had done my homework.
I still don't get why people want to fight small bias, by destroying their credibility, but... it happens more than you'd think.
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16. What I meant to say was...
My dad worked in legal at the company he works at, and one of the company's truck drivers got into an accident. The driver wasn't at fault but it is company policy anytime a driver gets into an accident they drug test them same day, and when the results came back the guy failed the test.
The guy disputed the results so they had him retake it. When he finishes up in the testing facilities bathroom, the sample he gives them isn't warm at all, clearly hadn't just come out of person. And in the bathroom, which they meticulously clean between each test, they find a strip of tape and like a little vile and cap thing that would have went onto a small vile kind of container.
So my dad has to be on a conference call with the driver and his manager and some other relevant parties and the guy maintains is innocence, and they can't like conclusively prove the tape or cap means he cheated the test, so they're kind of at an impasse.
As they're getting off the call my father just kind of takes a shot and asks the driver really nonchalantly and in passing "Say, doesn't taping the vile to your leg hurt? Like how do you get it off?" and the freaking guy replies without missing a beat "Oh no, it was just painters tape, comes off easy didn't hurt at all"
There was like 5 seconds of dead air after that before the guy scrambled and tried to put the tooth paste back in the tube. The company was able to fire him without any trouble.
Image by leestilltaolcom from Pixabay
14. Now is not the time to party.
Not my case, but my dad's. He was the equivalent of a Public Defender decades ago. There was this guy that would get caught for public intoxication, public lewdness, etc. EVERY weekend. He seemed to draw the same judges and was pretty well known to everyone in the courthouse as an absolute lost cause. One of the "regular" judges had him appear in his court again. The judge is ready to give him a prison sentence because he was driving a car this time, but the guy starts crying that he finally got a job out of town and was trying to turn his life around. Judge tells him as long as he never makes a mistake "in my town again" he would just drop the charges.
Well sure as anything the guy shows up the following Monday. Same judge. Driving under the influence AGAIN. My dad now has his case. The judge tells him he gave him his final chance, to which the guy sobs and replies "I was leaving town, your Honor. But my friends decided to throw me a going-away party." The judge was not amused. My dad had to do everything he could to not laugh.
Pixabay
13. Payback time.
Lady brought a frivolous case to get out of a contract she signed. She lost, then sued the attorney and the witnesses for conspiring against her. They got her case dismissed and an award of attorneys fees which she refused to pay. Lawyer recorded it as a lien on her house and scheduled a foreclosure sale, which caused her mortgage lender to declare a default and accelerate the entire mortgage balance. Lawyer made a side deal with lender to pay them all proceeds of the sale and then sold her house on courthouse steps to highest bidder and then arranged for sheriff to forcibly eject her onto the street with her junk. She's homeless now.
Short story: honor your contracts and don't sue your lawyer when you don't.
12. Let the lawyers do the talking.
Someone I knew had a pro bono case where she had to defend a person who had been charged with a criminal offense (don't know what, confidential and whatnot).
Even though the police and DA could pretty much pinpoint the crime to her client, there was no evidence to tie him to the crime, circumstancial at best.
She had instructed him to shut up and let her do the talking during the trial, as from experience the client sometimes does not know how to answer a question properly. She pleads and can show that the court has nothing on her client, she feels that for once, a pro bono case is going her way.
After her plea, the judge thanks her for her plea and turns to her client. He asks if the client had something to add to the plea. Client looks at her, back at the judge, tears well up in his eyes and he blurts out: "I'm so sorry, I'll never do it again!"
She threw her notes and everything else she had in her hands at the client (now convicted) apparently. She basically got screwed by her own client, who screwed himself even worse.
11. The worst parent in the world award goes to...
Judge in family court. My client was in a custody battle with her ex. I was a support person, not her lawyer. They told her the wrong time to arrive, so I was unable to stay until the afternoon. My client hadn’t been letting the baby go on visits with the guy for a couple weeks (violated custody order) because she was worried he was mistreating the child (bruises, fearful, etc.), but she couldn’t get a hearing in family court right away. CPS was in the process of investigating. The judge gave the guy, who was a bad dude and had been arrested for domestic violence recently, full custody of the baby and supervised visits for my client.
Visits took awhile to set up and a couple months passed. My client called me crying after the first visit and told me the baby looked skinny. The next visit was in a couple days, so I told her to take some pictures of the baby just wearing a diaper and send them to me. She sends me the picture at the next visit. You know pictures if children when they have gone through a famine? That’s how he looked, swollen stomach, skinny arms and legs, listless eyes, hair falling out, etc. He was a little healthy chunk-chunk since he was born, so clearly something was wrong.
Turns out the guy had been starving him because the baby was “too fat,” but we all knew it was because he hated my client. I was so angry at the family court judge because the man never should have had custody. Also, she never had him do a paternity test. CPS got involved and turns out this guy wasn’t even the bio father.
I regret to this day not being able to stay for that hearing because maybe it would have been different if I had been there. Baby ended up being okay.
10. A raw deal in real estate.
I’m currently representing a sweet old lady on a case. This lady’s neighbour convinced her that her house is basically unsellable, that her house requires all sorts of repairs, the repairs to the house would bankrupt her, and that she should just sell the house. To him. He showed up at her house the next day with documents to sign. She had no idea what’s going on. Doesn’t read anything (actually has an eye condition) and signs everything.
When she finally sees a lawyer to close the deal, he says you can’t do this. You see, the price of the transaction was about 36% of what the house is actually worth and there weren’t any repairs that needed to be done that would justify the price. Not kidding, it was stuff like fixing a faucet in the bathroom.
Also she didn’t understand that she would have nowhere to live afterwards. Old lady thought she could just stay in the house until she died. To make matters worse, she’s living off a modest pension and the other side is suing for the house. They’re essentially trying to get her to cave because her legal fees are getting exorbitant.
The worst part is, she’s a terrible witness. Her evidence is all over the place. When she was examined (deposed for you Americans) she denied being taken advantage of. Not great for our position.
Pixabay
9. Bad representation.
Used to work in children's court representing parents. When I first started, I witnessed another attorney destroy any chance of their client getting their kids back. At a review hearing assessing whether the court should terminate parental rights, the attorney was so confused about what was happening that they requested unmonitored visits for their client, but didn't even address termination of rights. Needless to say the court terminated the client's parental rights. The worst part was that earlier that day, the court took up a petition for more time, but denied it after the attorney failed to make any argument. Based on the facts (parent was doing really well), they probably would have won. The second worst part was overhearing the attorney tell her client to come back for the next review hearing (finalizing the adoption). Not only would there be nothing the parent could do at that hearing, but terminated parents aren't even allowed to be there.
8. His status updates came back to haunt him.
At my former firm, they had a hammered-driver-kills-a-car-worth-of-people case at the time when they were a general practitioner. My boss was representing the family that got hit (one where the two kids and the wife had died, but the father had not) and wanted the college guy's skin to be mounted on a wall.
This was back before Facebook was commonly used in Court proceedings and before tons of people realized what a great resource it is for any attorney worth their weight in salt.
So, the kid (hammered driving college kid) had managed to get the judge's sympathy during the first part of the hearing by saying he was sorry, haunted, never going to drink again, this was going to ruin his life, etc. The judge seemed to really be eating it up.
Then comes my boss and immediately burns this kid's remorse to the ground by showing numerous Facebook statuses and photos of them binge drinking, partying, and even joking about driving while wasted from the date of the accident up until a night ago. The kid looked like he was being forced to swallow hot coals and the judge was absolutely livid.
Needless to say, the kid had to do way more than just apologize and be remorseful after that.
Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels
7. Lien on me.
I was a very new lawyer, with no bankruptcy experience. A partner sent me to bankruptcy court to try to make a claim as a creditor related to a $50 million building that was being sold. Time and lack of knowledge will prevent me from accurately describing everything that went down but I will do my best.
The Court handled my client's claim very quickly and easily at first. The Court ruled we were not a creditor because our claim was against a tenant, which was correct. (Note, we had purchased the claim from someone merely to try to somehow wedge our way into buying the property - which was very transparent to the Court.)
So I could just set back for the remainder of the hearing and watch the 2 premier bankruptcy attorneys go at it. One represented the debtor and the owner of the building; the other represented a secured creditor with a lien against the building
They absolutely hated each other on a personal level, and were arguing with great venom about the plan to sell the real estate.
There was a small break in the action while the judge took care of another matter.
When we came back, the secured creditor attorney told the Court the following:
- His client (the creditor) had purchased controlling interest in the debtor (the owner of the building).
- He had been directed to fire the other attorney.
- He had been directed to withdraw the motion to sell the real estate.
- He then did both there in the Courtroom.
I have practiced for almost 3 decades. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, and was particularly noteworthy because the courtroom was packed with other attorneys watching and those 2 attorneys absolutely hated each other.
Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels
6. The kids aren't alright.
Not a lawyer but this happened to my family. My husband's kids asked us to fight for full custody after years of systematic abuse from their mom.
My stepdaughter was assaulted and mom decided to marry a guy who was best friends with the guy who assaulted her. Mom never told us what happened never got her counseling. Never reported it to the police.
In mediation she brought up a conversation I had with her which she denied ever happening until then. She started saying lie after lie and all my husband had to say was “My wife had that conversation with you to explain how uncomfortable my daughter is living with this man because he is connected to her assault."
The mediator was not amused. She said, “You have someone living in your house who is connected to your daughter's assault. Your relationship with your children is broken.”
She spent the rest of the session sobbing and signed away custody because this was just the tip of the iceberg that we had on her and she knew it. Hearing her sobbing made me so happy after all she put these kids through. I had to walk my step daughter into the police station to report her assault.
I usually don’t want people to suffer but after warning her this guy was coming between her and her kids and then her lying about the context of that conversation I'll make an exception. I tried to stop her from the chain of events that lead us to court and she tried to use it against me.
Pixabay
5. Playing hooky to the max.
This guy and his lawyer missed court appearances, sometimes one of them, sometimes both, with little or no warning and with suspect excuses. It started getting ridiculous and we kept pointing out holes in his story, like he said he left for another country without knowing about the appearance, but his lawyer stood in court and said he told him beforehand. Or all of a sudden he was in a former Soviet Bloc country for fertility treatments and it would ruin everything if he came back now. Or when he was visiting dying relatives on another continent. Or he was going to the airport when he had to rush to the hospital and showed us an admitting form in another language that we translated - it showed he was there but also that he was discharged. He also tried firing his attorney and saying he needed more time to brief a new attorney - who at the next appearance would say he hasn't been able to talk to his client so he needs to adjourn. Or that he hasn't been paid and his client is basically a moron and he needs to be relieved.
We kept saying to the judge he was doing it to stall but the judge kept giving him the benefit of the doubt. We even showed him other cases where he skipped appearances and the judges threatened sanctions. Until finally he didn't show up for an appearance where the judge had specifically told him, I don't care if you're meeting with the Pope, I'm ordering you to be here. Boom, his answer was stricken, default judgment in full was granted to our side. Neither he nor his lawyer showed up for the hearing where the judge determined exactly how much of a judgment we should get, and then had the nerve to file a motion that the judgment was unfair because he didn't get a chance to dispute anything.
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
4. Like watching a train wreck.
One of the very few family law cases I handled as a young attorney sticks out to me:
Young woman and Young man have Child. Young woman seeks divorce from young man because he enjoys the "thug life", he had recently been arrested and charged for possession w/ int to distribute (felony) and in possession of a firearm (unlawful carry). Young man doesn't like her leaving him. He hires a local big name top divorce attorney (granted, very rural area). Gets temporary divorce order entered saying she can not have overnight guests of the opposite gender (common in rural conservative areas, think it's mostly a thing of the past in more urban places).
Young woman starts seeing someone new. Young man is very upset about this. Has his fancy lawyer ask for a hearing accusing her of violating court order and seeking full custody, on top of attorney fees. Young woman, on advice from a mutual friend, hires me for this hearing. I sit down with opposing counsel, and she basically tries to strong arm me w/ her experience and lays out egregious terms... mother must not only give up primary custody, but must have visitation with a supervisor and pay child support and attorney fees. She knows I'm a new baby attorney in town (fairly certain I had been licensed for less than a year). I balk and she says she'll see us in court.
I go into hearing with a copy of his probation arrangement on his Possession w/ Intent to sell & unlawful carry. He hasn't told his attorney about this, and she is unaware. She calls him up establishes how my client had her new boyfriend over on x,y,z nights. Judge is VERY conservative, not pleased.
Then, opposing counsel passes the witness. I ask him if he has a job. "No." "What do you do for money?" "Things here and there." "Oh? Ms. opposing counsel is awfully expensive... Do you sell illegal substances?" "...What?" "Have you ever sold them to make ends meet?" "Uhhh no."
Introduce a copy of his guilty plea and straight probation sentencing. Judge is now staring daggers at him. I lean over to my client sitting next to me, and whisper, "If you took a drug test today, be honest, would you be completely clean?" "Yes."
I ask the Young man, "When was the last time you used?" His attorney objects, but Judge overrules. I know this judge will drug test people on the spot as he is also the misdemeanor drug court judge. "It's been years, I'm clean., "So, if you were tested, you'd be clean?" "Yes." Opposing counsel asks the same of my client, we agree. Judge has them both tested. He tests positive. My client is clean.
Judge denies his motion, and asks me to send in new temp orders where young man is required to maintain employment and start paying child support and places him on supervised visits.
Icing on the cake, opposing counsel actually calls me and leaves me a voicemail congratulating me on, and I quote, "handing her butt to her for the first time in a long time."
Photo by Ruthson Zimmerman on Unsplash
3. The jury didn't waste any time.
This was a case another prosecutor in my office had a few years back. 30-year-old defendant was charged with sexual assault of a child after he got his girlfriend’s 14 year old sister pregnant. She actually kept the baby so the police just waited and got a paternity test. No surprise, defendant was the father.
Defendant wanted probation; prosector refused to offer it. He decided to plead guilty and have a jury trial on punishment (here in Texas, you can choose to have the jury set punishment). Evidence mostly proceeded as expected. The victim testified to the act being consensual (aside from not being old enough to consent) with the defendant, getting pregnant, etc. Paternity test introduced.
The jury deliberated about fifteen minutes before returning a verdict of 17 years (the maximum possible as charged was 20). When interviewed by the attorneys afterwards, one of them said they decided on 17 years so the defendant would never forget the age of consent in Texas again.
Image by Vitabello from Pixabay
2. Those points add up.
In my jurisdiction, you can accumulate 15 points on your license before you are suspended. A client hired us with 14 points already on his license. He had a 2pt speeding ticket for going 80km/h in a 50km/h zone. The prosecutors never negotiate down to 0pts unless there's something really wrong with the evidence. They don't want to look like they let people get away with 0 points or something.
Either way, client has to do a trial. We advise him repeatedly that it's not enough to just win his trial, he has to win by convincing the judge that he was going 60km/h or less. Anything between 61-70km is still 1pt, which would cause a suspension. He goes before the judge. The prosecutor asks him, "How fast were you going that day." He says, "Around 60km/h." Judge interrupts, "What do you mean by around?" Client shrugs and answers, "Like 59 to 61 km/h." Judge acquits him of going 80km/h, but finds him guilty of going 61km/h. He loses 1pt and loses his license. Technically, we counted it as a win because we still saved him a point at trial.
1. Almost a happy ending.
I witnessed a nasty custody fight where the ex-wife was a lawyer and represented herself. The ex-husband had a pretty bad lawyer. She kept hauling things back to court trying to get more benefits from him, and his lawyer just let it keep happening. It was destroying his life, costing so much money that he could barely afford his apartment and couldn't afford a car which both figured in later for custody.
Finally, the ex-wife's father (also a lawyer) asked to meet with the judge and mentioned a few things that he knew were going on. The ex-wife had forged documents to overstate the ex-husband's income when alimony was being determined. Oh... and the ex-wife was sleeping with the ex-husband's lawyer.
The ex-husband's lawyer was reported to the bar (not sure what happened there). The Judge order a review of everything and arranged for a new lawyer for the ex-husband. It was looking like the alimony would be vastly reduced and the ex-husband was going to get custody. But then the ex-husband died (blood clot) two months later. Years of being screwed over, finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel, but ended up being the wrong light at the end of the wrong tunnel.
Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash
1. The Neighbor Who Didn't Like Our Dog
My neighbor took us to court because she didn't like our dog. The neighbor was unfriendly and rarely paid attention to us, but she accused our dog of setting her lawn on fire multiple times. How could a dog do that? Anyway, during the court hearing, her lawyer presented some strange evidence with pictures. "Where did you get those!?" I asked. The neighbor replied, "Are you surprised? Now you'll be kicked out from the neighborhood." I was shocked by her evidence, and that's when my wife exclaimed, "Look at what she's doing to the dog in that photo! That's not even fire. Oh my goodness!"
The judge sentenced her for planting false evidence and harming the dog. The fire was her fault. She had rubbed some ash on the dog's mouth and took pictures. Thankfully, the dog is fine, and we won't have to deal with her anymore.
/deleted Reddit
