The Magic Touch

We all know that Courts are generally not happy places. This is especially true of Federal Courts. There are not a lot of yuks in Federal Court. Every once in a while, though, even that venue is visited by a ray of sunshine. Generally unexpected. Always appreciated.

I represented a client in October who had a tax problem stemming from those pesky legal restrictions prohibiting unreported cash payments made under the table to vital employees, documented or undocumented. The gentleman ran a restaurant. The remaining pieces to that puzzle are easily put together. Res ipsa loquitur.

I appeared for sentencing with my client before Judge Victor Bolden then domiciled at Courtroom 2 in the Brien McMahon Federal Building at 450 Lafayette Boulevard in Bridgeport. Judge Bolden has always had a healthy perspective on life and fortunately brings that to the bench. He is willing to approach cases from a human perspective which extends beyond the limits of narrowly-read statutes and regulations.

A federal criminal sentencing can often involve a flood of paperwork which has been carefully scrivened and analyzed in greater detail than the Dead Sea scrolls. This particular case was a little shy on the depth and detail of legal analysis, most likely attributable to limited skills of defense counsel. It was a small tax case for a defendant with no record who had repaid the taxes owed. A non-incarceration sentence made sense from every perspective, even the Sentencing Guidelines. Nevertheless, this was a sentencing. Sloppy work could lead to jail time. It was important and a professional presentation was required, not just to impress the client but to let the Court know that this was a fellow who got squared away and deserved a walk.

So, I go before Judge Bolden with my client on a Thursday afternoon. I bring along my client’s friend. The friend is a lawyer whose avocation is magic He is a magician. He is going to be a character witness. He will speak after me and the client. I introduce him as an attorney friend and magician by hobby, but I deftly observe he won’t play any tricks on you, Judge. He speaks well. The anticipated suspended sentence is imposed. The rest is loose ends and paperwork.

Judge Bolden recesses Court. However, as happens with Judge Bolden and some other federal judges, once sentence is imposed the judge comes off the bench to shake hands with the client, his lawyer, the prosecutor and agent. Judge Bolden comes down, shakes my client’s hand, then mine, and proceeds to shake hands with our magician lawyer friend on his way to speaking to and shaking hands with Government counsel and the IRS agent. Court is in recess. We are off the record. Judge Bolden prepares to return to chambers. Just then our lawyer friend, now in the well of the court, says, “Judge, do you have a minute?” The judge, always courteous, stops. Our friend pulls out a deck of Bicycle brand playing cards and says – you got it – “Pick a card, any card”. And Judge Bolden, ever the gentleman, complies. He chooses the seven of hearts and returns it to the deck. Miraculously, as if by magic (and to no one’s surprise), our friend extracts that very card from the deck. Amazing. Smiles all around.

And so, on a Thursday in October, 2022 in the well of Courtroom 2 of the Bridgeport Federal Court, a touch of magic visits that venue and a coterie of Court personnel is unexpectedly entertained in a place where things like this don’t often occur.

Not Marbury v. Madison, but, on the whole, a pretty good day.