History Main / CourtroomAntics

* John Gotti's Lawyer Bruce Cutler was infamous for this. Some of his antics included referring to prosecutor Diane Giacacolne as the "Lady in Red" when she showed up in court in a red dress, throwing an indictment in the garbage, verbally berating witnesses, questioning their character, name-calling and even turning prosecution witnesses into his witnesses(which became known as "Brucyfying")

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'': In act three, you can agree to help defend Rolgar, a tribesman charged with murder. The prosecutor of the trial is Igland of the Swift Sword, who upon introducing himself loudly declares that he's ''never'' lost a case. Which is kind of hard to believe, because he's absolutely obnoxious - constantly speaks out of turn, makes spurious accusations in order to sway the jury (which unfortunately works), and repeatedly interrupts your questioning of the witnesses to put his own spin on the statements. He's repeatedly ordered by the judge to stop his disruptive behavior, but ignores it (and the judge doesn't back up his warnings). If you manage to win the case (mainly by sticking to the facts and avoiding questions that gives Igland something to twist) he'll throw a massive tantrum over the fact that he lost, acting like you cheated somehow, and leaves in a huff.

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* One [[http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/Documents/Opinions/Washington_v_Alaimo.pdf Matthew Washington]] was so infamous for filing dilatory motions and frivolous appeals, culminating in a "Motion to Kiss My Ass," that there was actually a court order issued forbidding him from filing any more motions unless he first posted a $1500 contempt bond in case the court decided to fine him for wasting their time. Part of the reason why this continued for so long was that, as a veteran, he received a fairly substantial disability check each month that he dipped into to directly pay the filing fees rather than seek indigent status, as litigants who regularly use the latter to file frivolous and abusive complaints, motions, and petitions can and often will be barred from using it as a quick-and-clean way of keeping them from being able to continue to waste the court's time without great difficulty. Because Washington ''didn't'' do this, they didn't have a quick, easy way to stop him and had to resort to drastic measures that were more difficult to get the court to sign off on.
* ''State of Georgia v. Denver Fenton Allen'' (seen in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vN_PEmeKb0 animated reenactment]] by the creators and voice actors of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'') started off as relatively mundane (a defendant in a murder trial started out by expressing dissatisfaction with his court-appointed attorney) but quickly took a turn for the bizarre after he started accusing his attorney of trying to force him into allowing him (the attorney) to perform fellatio upon him (the defendant) in exchange for requested documents; from there, the defendant eventually began showering the judge with verbal abuse before then asking the judge to fellate him, followed by a declaration that he "[doesn't] fuck girls" and instead preferred "white boys" with "big butts," which eventually turned into a shouting match between the judge and the defendant before the defendant eventually graphically threatened to murder the judge's entire family (to which the judge responded that he doesn't even ''have'' a family), followed by threatening to masturbate and ejaculate upon the judge ''and the judge daring him to do just that''. The judge gave as good as he got, however, telling the defendant looks "like a queer" and that he has "the constitutional right to be a dumbass." Note that ''none'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic of this is exaggerated or embellished in any way;]] [[http://coosavalleynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Transcript-Denver-Allen.pdf the transcript]] indicates that this is a ''verbatim'' retelling of what actually happened that day.

UnconventionalCourtroomTactics is when these antics are used strategically by the lawyer to achieve a desired result.

In real life, being in court is a stressful and serious situation. You have to take it seriously in order to avoid being held in contempt of court and win your case. In fiction, though, it's not entertaining to see a long, dry, drawn-out court session, especially in a comedy show. That's why these proceedings are often PlayedForLaughs, instead, as the characters partake in antics that would ''never'' fly in a real life courtroom.

* ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' short "Disorder In the Court," full stop. That it should end with a fire hose bursting during a photo shoot is quite apropos.

* ''Series/Blackadder Goes Forth'': The [[WitchHunt Witchsmeller Pursuivant]] episode of series one has the Witchsmeller [[MakeTheDogTestify bring in Edmund's horse]], Black Satin and first decide its silence means it has something to hide, and then when it says "Neigh" he doesn't believe a word of it, bring in a dog which he claims is Edmund's son, and accuse Baldrick of being a witch for saying that carrots don't grow on trees. Maybe it's just because he was playing a sick man, but Creator/BrianBlessed isn't the [[LargeHam biggest ham]] in that episode.

* in ''WesternAnimation/{{SonicBoom}}'' Eggman sues Sonic and Knuckles is the Lawyer. Knuckles, being Knuckles, cross examines himself (and makes it seem like Sonic us guilty) and doesn't notice how blatantly Eggman has rigged things in his favor. Such as the judge being a robot and Cubot and Orbot faking testimony in the courtroom.
*
''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': In "The Good Deed," Wander breaks up a fight between two FeudingFamilies of hillbilly aliens by staging a frantic courtroom argument all by himself, playing the prosecutor, defense, judge, stenographer, and even the bailiff. The aliens are so baffled they agree to stop fighting just to shut Wander up.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': In "The Good Deed," Wander breaks up a fight between two FeudingFamilies of hillbilly aliens by staging a frantic courtroom argument all by himself, playing the prosecutor, defense, judge, stenographer, and even the bailiff. The aliens are so baffled they agree to stop fighting just to shut Wander up.

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* The entirety of ''Theatre/TrialByJury'' which involves, among other things, the court usher telling the jury to ignore what the defendant has to say and the judge ''marrying'' the plaintiff at the end.

* The trial of UsefulNotes/CharlesManson and his accomplices for seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy is one of the most notorious examples. To begin with, Family members not named as defendants loitered outside the courthouse with plainly visible hunting knives in sheaths, simply to intimidate passersby. On one day of the proceedings, Manson himself was able to smuggle in a copy of ''The Los Angeles Times'' with the front page headline "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares," and flash it in front of the jury (requiring Judge Older to issue a ''voir dire'' to the jury before they could proceed). The next day, the female defendants stood up and said in unison that, in light of Nixon's remark, there was no point in going on with the trial. (Older naturally didn't buy it.) Two months later, after Manson's request to question a prosecution witness (who had already been cross-examined by the defense) was denied, he actually tried to attack the judge; he had to be removed after being wrestled to the ground by the bailiffs, as the female defendants rose to their feet and started chanting in Latin. Thereafter, Older kept a loaded revolver under his robe remainder of the trial. Besides the Family themselves, defense attorney Irving Kanarek kept objecting over every little thing, often racking up a hundred in a single day, and was so notorious for having trials extended beyond belief that another attorney had once quit rather than face him again. He was held in contempt of court numerous times but never quit objecting.

** Not expected or intended, but [[ExploitedTrope deliberately played on]]: a gangster witness tries to shoot Harvey Dent in the middle of the trial. Dent promptly delivers a cross to his face and disarms him, stunning the entire court. When the judge calls for a recess, Dent hams it up: "Your honor, I'm not done yet".

* ''Film/DuckSoup'' has a version in which the Creator/MarxBrothers are performing courtroom antics not to prevent/assure convictions, but simply because their characters are...well...[[CloudCuckoolander who]] they [[RuleOfFunny are]]. Cases in point: offering the witness bets on whether there's a conviction, objecting on the grounds of "I couldn't think of anything else to say", sustaining objections on the grounds of "I couldn't think of anything else to say either", and a pun or two.

* A number of these occur in ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' short "Disorder in the Court", which is to be expected when characters like the stooges enter a courtroom. While trying to clear an innocent woman of murder, they proceed to re-enact the events of the night of the murder, including an unrelated musical sequence, get perhaps a little too realistic when re-enacting the murder itself (no one dies, but Curly is subject to a bit of abuse), and chase a parrot around the courtroom with a fire hose.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': A mental competency hearing for a wealthy old man, in which Frasier is appearing for the defense, is going very well for Frasier, who is acting like a consummate professional — until the defendant's senility kicks in and he chooses that moment to start acting like a train conductor, including punching 'tickets' (the judge's notes and Frasier's tie) and announcing arrivals. Meanwhile Niles, who is appearing for the plaintiff, realizes that the the proceedings are being televised and starts playing up to the cameras outrageously. The judge is still quick to tell him off about it, however.
* The point of ''Series/ThisIsWonderland''. Courtrooms have seen arguments (not always in English), violence, spoken-word poetry, a fake heart attack, car theft from the courthouse's parking lot, mix-ups with defendant's names, shouts of "Boo!", the outbreak of true love, and the occasional FreudianSlip. Judge Maxwell Frasier, who has been known to threaten arrest for this sort of behavior out of anyone other than himself, would often yawn loudly while people he didn't like were talking, call a recess because he was hungry/bored, or go crazy and scream.

* ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'': In "Rumpole and the Last Resort", Rumpole secured an adjournment in spite of an unsympathetic judge by collapsing and dying right there in the courtroom.

-->'''Phoenix Wright:''' OBJECTION!
-->'''Axel:''' GO FUCK YOURSELF!
-->'''Judge:''' Objection overruled, go fuck yourself sustained.

* In ''WebVideo/TheTrialOfTimHeidecker'', Tim [[AFoolForAClient represents himself]] in his murder trial, despite having zero legal training. Nearly everything he does violates courtroom decorum, from insulting the judge, to arguing with and [[JuryAndWitnessTampering threatening witnesses]], to using the court to settle his own petty debates, to using InsaneTrollLogic to claim innocence, to blatantly forging evidence in his favor. [[spoiler: However, none of that is enough to get him convicted, since he has a hung jury.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' had an episode where Dr. Scratchandsniff gets a parking ticket and the Warners defend him in court to contest. Examples include [[VisualPun holding up a badger to the witness]] and when swearing the witness in, telling her "[[{{Pun}} you shouldn't [swear], it's not nice]]".
* ''WesternAnimation/BeCoolScoobyDoo'' episode "The People vs. Fred Jones" uses a trial as a framing device for the latest mystery. Not only is the jury composed entirely of people they've unmasked in previous episodes (one of whom is a childhood friend of the defendant, two of whom are children, and one of whom takes this as an opportunity to escape), Daphne acts as the defense attorney after getting her law degree from a side-scrolling platform game, the prosecutor routinely storms out of the room to protest the antics before rushing back in for his cross-examination, and the judge allows Shaggy to blatantly modify his testimony (after the prosecutor accuses Fred of being the monster, Shaggy describes him slipping on a burst fire hydrant, being hoisted into the air by a giraffe, mocked by a clown, dumped by his girlfriend who drives away with said clown, and ultimately carried away by an eagle) simply because the image is amusing. Mystery Inc.'s behavior is somewhat justified as an attempt at ThePerryMasonMethod to get the guilty party to come forward, while [[spoiler: the prosecutor ''is'' the guilty party trying to frame Fred]]. The judge and jury come down to pure RuleOfFunny.
* ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'': First, the trial is presided over by the honorable [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Reinhold Judge Reinhold]], and he lets Randal get away with his nonsense through open bias. Randal calls a series of "surprise witnesses". All of the witnesses are directors of movies Randal didn't like, and he demands refunds from each of them. After he's finished, the witnesses leave, without ever saying a single word that has to do with the trial's actual proceedings. He also calls a girl to the witness stand just to get her phone number.The prosecuting lawyer has Dante questioned by a pair of giggling girls, and plays the tapes of a completely unrelated prank call made by Jay and Randal.

-->'''Dale:''' I do not recognize the authority of a court that hangs the gold-fringed flag. A flag with gilded edges is the flag of an admirality court. An admirality court signifies a naval court-martial. I cannot be court-martialled twice. That is all! Furthermore... (bailiff gags him)

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': In "The Good Deed", Wander breaks up a fight between two FeudingFamilies of hillbilly aliens by staging a frantic courtroom argument all by himself, playing the prosecutor, defense, judge, stenographer, and even the balliff. The aliens are so baffled they agree to stop fighting just to shut Wander up.

* The trial of UsefulNotes/CharlesManson and his accomplices for seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy is one of the most notorious examples. To begin with, Family members not named as defendants loitered outside the courthouse with plainly visible hunting knives in sheaths, simply to intimidate passersby. On one day of the proceedings, Manson himself was able to smuggle in a copy of ''The Los Angeles Times'' with the front page headline "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares", and flash it in front of the jury (requiring Judge Older to issue a ''voir dire'' to the jury before they could proceed). The next day, the female defendants stood up and said in unison that, in light of Nixon's remark, there was no point in going on with the trial. (Older naturally didn't buy it.) Two months later, after Manson's request to question a prosecution witness (who had already been cross-examined by the defense) was denied, he actually tried to attack the judge; he had to be removed after being wrestled to the ground by the bailiffs, as the female defendants rose to their feet and started chanting in Latin. Thereafter, Older kept a loaded revolver under his robe remainder of the trial. Besides the Family themselves, defense attorney Irving Kanarek kept objecting over every little thing, often racking up a hundred in a single day, and was so notorious for having trials extended beyond belief that another attorney had once quit rather than face him again. He was held in contempt of court numerous times but never quit objecting.

* ''State of Georgia v. Denver Fenton Allen'' (seen in this [[https://youtu.be/7vN_PEmeKb0 animated reenactment]] by the creators and voice actors of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'') started off as relatively mundane (a defendant in a murder trial started out by expressing dissatisfaction with his court-appointed attorney) but quickly took a turn for the bizarre after he started accusing his attorney of trying to force him into allowing him (the attorney) to perform fellatio upon him (the defendant) in exchange for requested documents; from there, the defendant eventually began showering the judge with verbal abuse before then asking the judge to fellate him, followed by a declaration that he "[doesn't] fuck girls" and instead preferred "white boys" with "big butts", which eventually turned into a shouting match between the judge and the defendant before the defendant eventually graphically threatened to murder the judge's entire family (to which the judge responded that he doesn't even ''have'' a family), followed by threatening to masturbate and ejaculate upon the judge ''and the judge daring him to do just that''. The judge gave as good as he got, however, telling the defendant looks "like a queer" and that he has "the constitutional right to be a dumbass." Note that ''none'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic of this is exaggerated or embellished in any way;]] [[http://coosavalleynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Transcript-Denver-Allen.pdf the transcript]] indicates that this is a ''verbatim'' retelling of what actually happened that day.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Guiteau Charles Julius Guiteau]], the man who assassinated President UsefulNotes/JamesGarfield, performed a number of antics during his trial. He argued with his attorneys, shouted vulgar insults at the jury, solicited legal advice from random spectators, tried to get a pardon from UsefulNotes/ChesterAArthur as thanks for making him President, and even claimed he killed Garfield because [[MissionFromGod God told him to]]. His attempt at the InsanityDefense failed as the court psychiatrist stated that he wasn't legally insane during the assassination, but that "he was insane his whole life, and was never anything else". Guiteau also violently rejected the idea he was insane, as this would detract from the divine mandate he thought justified his actions. He got his wish, he was found guilty and hanged.

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Maybe they have a BunnyEarsLawyer who's quirks would be considered disruptive in a real court case. Maybe they're all talking in a casual, breezy language, referring to serious legal terms through BuffySpeak and cracking jokes at inappropriate times. They may even be treating the case like one big party, ordering snacks and listening to music and just refusing to take it seriously. All of this and more can be done to make a court case more entertaining for an audience, showing a sillier and livelier version of what may normally be boring and endless.

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1656952380048173400 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

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* The murder trial in ''Literature/LittleFuzzy'', starting even before the trial begins, with two murder cases being combined into a single trial, the appointment of the defense attorneys as special prosecutors, and key witnesses being seized as "evidence." It goes on to mutate from a civilian trial into a court-martial and an academic seminar, with two flavors of surprise witnesses, and the continued prosecution of a dead man after one of the defendants commits suicide. And there are in-universe precedents for most of this: "You could find a precedent for almost anything in colonial law."

* A number of these occur in ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' short "Disorder in the Court", which is to be expected when characters like the stooges enter a courtroom. While trying to clear an innocent woman of murder, they proceed to re-enact the events of the night of the murder, including an unrelated musical sequence, get perhaps a little too realistic when re-enacting the murder itself (no one dies, but Curly is subject to a bit of abuse), and chase a parrot around the courtroom with a fire hose.

UnconventionalCourtroomTactics is when these antics are used strategically by the lawyer to achieve a desired result.

This trope is common in a CourtoomEpisode, and often alongside tropes like the FrivolousLawsuit and a CommonNonsenseJury.

Maybe they have a BunnyEaredLawyer who's quirks would be considered disruptive in a real court case. Maybe they're all talking in a casual, breezy language, referring to serious legal terms through BuffySpeak and cracking jokes at inappropriate times. They may even be treating the case like one big party, ordering snacks and listening to music and just refusing to take it seriously. All of this and more can be done to make a court case more entertaining for an audience, showing a sillier and livelier version of what may normally be boring and endless.

This trope is common in a CoutroomEpisode, and often alongside tropes like the FrivolousLawsuit and a CommonNonsenseJury.