Win some, lose some, Part II.

Analyzing the accountings, I observed discrepancies between what was received and what was distributed. I won't bore you with the details, but when I pressed the trustee for documentary backup, he said he couldn't produce them because his apartment was burglarized the night before. How coincidental!

So, when I cross-examined him regarding whether he called the police or had a police report, he insisted that he had. In a maneuver I hadn't seen before, the witness got off the stand--during the cross--and walked to his place at the counsel table and began fumbling through papers. The witness handed me a document as he bounded back to the witness chair.

I looked at it and said, "Let the record reflect that the witness has handed me a document entitled 'Warning' from the XYZ City Police Department. Mr. So and So, you don't have a police report--you instead received a warning from the police, true?"

At this point, I saw his attorney do the "hand-in-hands" pose with his head slowly turning from side to side.