Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Without Prejudice

Casey Anthony's defense team has filed a lot of motions; too many to some, but plenty of them have been denied without prejudiceby the presiding judge. With prejudice and without are fairly cut and dry. With prejudice means that once a judge rules, that's the end of it; dead in the water, leave it alone and give it a rest. In other words, it's a final disposition. Without prejudice means that the present form is not good enough to rule positively on, but the motion can certainly be filed again after tweaking and rewriting it. In other words, similar, but not identical. It leaves a party free to litigate the matter in a subsequent action. That's not to say the latter outcome would be any different, but it leaves the door open for further explanation and review. A lot of the motions ruled against the defense by Judge Stan Strickland were ordered without prejudice. In my opinion, one of the reasons why Jose & Co. wanted him off the bench was made clear after Chief Judge Belvin Perry, Jr. took over. Many of those motions turned down by Judge Strickland were refiled. They expected the new judge to be more favorable in his rulings. Unfortunately for Casey, Judge Perry didn't overturn a single one of them, so they did nothing to help her cause.

In light of Judge Strickland's rulings, I want to discuss something that's been weighing on my mind - without prejudice, of course. Actually, there are two things, the other one being George and Cindy and where they sit in the courtroom; but first, I come to Judge Strickland's defense - not that he needs it or anything.

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