And what are judges if not lawyers with curious psychological needs? Well, not all, but some. As it turns out, the judge who basked in the klieg lights of the Casey Anthony reality show couldn't bear the lack of attention after the verdict was read.
So strong was Belvin Perry's need to be a star that the daily sycophantic "yes, Your Honor, you are so smart, funny and handsome," no longer satisfied his yearning. So deep was compulsion to have the world look at him in admiration again that he threw Canon 2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct to the wind as he donned his finest suit and the tie he selected all by himself from the Just Ties store on the internet and strutted into the Today Show studios and headed straight to make-up, stopping only briefly in the green room to see what donuts were offered.
And then he did the unthinkable. Florida's 9th Judicial Circuit Court Chief judge Belvin Perry, Jr., with a broad smile across his ample face, in the laconic voice affectation that only judges enjoy as anyone else would be told to get to the damn point already, gave a tell-all interview to Savannah Guthrie about the Casey Anthony case.
Some of the highlights offered by the learned jurist, via Jonathan Turley:
He explained on the Today show that “[t]here were two sides to Casey Anthony. There was the side that was before the jury, where she portrayed the role of a mother who had lost a child, someone who was wrongfully accused, and then you could notice the change and transformation in her when the jury went out. She was very commanding, she took charge of different things, and you could see her sometimes scolding her attorneys.”Searching for the perfect word to describe Judge Perry's commentary left me stymied. Disgraceful? Outrageous? Humiliating? Yet none captured to the depth of this egomaniacal need to reclaim the spotlight, to beg for the attention once held, while abandoning any shred of dignity or propriety. Reminiscent of the Passover song Dayenu, had he agreed to be interviewed, but conducted himself in a reasonably appropriate manner, it would have been enough to violate the Code of Judicial Conduct.He then proceeds to describe meeting with her counsel and non-public conversations with her and counsel. He relayed how Anthony reacted to an offer for a plea of aggravated manslaughter: “I will never forget that day,” he said. “All of a sudden, you heard shouting coming from the holding cell, some four-letter words coming from the holding cell, and she was quite upset. So upset that one counselor suggested that she was incompetent to proceed.”
Perry further tells the public of his “surprise,” “shock” and “disbelief” at reading Anthony’s acquittal and that “[t]here was sufficient evidence to sustain a verdict of murder in the first degree in this case.” In other words, despite her acquittal, Perry wants the public to know that he thinks she murdered her daughter.
He also described the prosecutors as “better lawyers” and, in a backhanded compliment, described the lead defense counsel as a used car salesman.
But he went on national television to speak of a matter that only came within his purview because he held the position of judge, and dished his personal views as if he was Joan Rivers on Fashion Police doing the "Bitch Stole My Look" segment. A woman was acquitted, but Perry felt compelled, or perhaps entitled, to pronounce her guilty. A lawyer won the case, but Perry felt compelled, or perhaps entitled, to call him a used car salesman.
As he spoke, his smile broadened, his carefully selected words resonated in that slow drawl that simultaneously makes him sound like such a Baptist preacher and the village idiot, and removed any lingering doubt that his need to extend his 15 minutes of fame was stronger than any other motivation.
Maybe Judge Belvin Perry is about to leave the bench and wanted a head start on his career as an elder statesman of the law, launching it from the Today Show studio. Maybe he didn't care about his flagrant violation of the Canon 2, or his single-handedly eviscerating every shred of dignity that the robe gave the man.
But Judge Perry made the same mistake lawyers commonly make when the cameras are shut off and the lights dim. He's no star. He's no celebrity. To the extent anyone cares if he exists, it was only because of his fortuitous connection to a trial that ran like a soap opera, with a nation tuning in for the next episode. But the show is over, and he's now sucked the last minute out of his celebrity existence. After this interview, and his revelations that might otherwise have aired on the Real Housewives Reunion Hour, no one will do his makeup for his next close-up. No one cares.
Hope you enjoyed your moment in the sun, Judge. It was disgraceful, outrageous and humiliating. Worse still, it was banal. Was it worth it?
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