Transcript (en)

Who are you? My name is Jerome Harris, and I'm your client. That's who I am. Oh, please. Here's the card she gave me. Claire, this is your card. Sir, if I may ask, what is your case about? I was charged with stealing a cell phone. Oops. It got assigned to me when I was in court on something else. I must have blocked it out. You can see why. Lady, I am a human being. Mr. Harris, when is your trial? Today. Today. Oh, whatever. Let's go. You're going to give me a continuous, right? Jerry. It's Jerome. You can't pay. Why would I stretch it out when you can't pay? Claire, perhaps you should get a continuance. For a stolen cell phone? Back here, 9 a.m., suit and tie. Well, hold on. I'm not comfortable that you're trying your hardest here, you know what I'm saying? Nine o'clock. What the... It's the only suit I got, okay? Are you crazy? This suit brings me luck, okay? I got married in this suit. You're divorced. Well, I got lucky that day. Let's just get in there, Jerome. May I ask, officer, how you were able to track the telephone to the defendant? He kept using it, making calls. He was actually talking on it when we went to arrest him. That's not true. I was checking my messages. Shh. And, officer, the defendant was found to have this stolen telephone that marked and identified as People's Exhibit C in his possession at the time that you apprehended him. Right, officer? Yes, sir. Right in his hand? Yes, sir. Thank you, officer. I have no further questions. So you arrested my client for being in possession of stolen merchandise? No, I arrested him for stealing the merchandise. And how do you know he's the one who took it? He told me. He said it looked like his phone and he took it by mistake. Do you know that not to be true? I have phone records to show over 36 calls received by the stolen phone after it was reported missing. The ring on the phone was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. His phone ring was the theme to SpongeBob We can also prove he played the messages on the stolen phone voicemail so at some point he had to know it wasn his phone Okay thanks Prosecution rests Your Honor Very well Ms Sims Defense rests Judge Rest Jerome Lady I am a human being Okay, again with the human being defense. I know what I am doing. Can you just trust me? I'm deliberately trying to lose, and I know it. You want me in jail. You finished? No, I will get you. When this is all over, I will get you. And if you think getting me stuck in jail is going to protect you, you are wrong. Are you threatening me, Jerome? You're going to add violent crime to your already impressive resume? Ms. Sims? I can't really argue except one thing. Intent is an element of the crime. Specifically, there has to be concurrence between mind and act, which basically means that at the time Mr. Harris took the phone, he had to have the intent to steal it. The prosecution has offered no evidence to establish that. My client simply could have mistakenly taken the phone, thinking it was his own, then decided to keep it after realizing it wasn't his. Well, he certainly had the requisite mental intent to deprive another person of their property. But not at the time of the taking, which is the prerequisite for concurrence. Even if that were a correct statement of the law... It is. ...he would still be guilty of possession of stolen property. If only you thought to charge possession. You didn't. And you can't now, because double jeopardy applies to the lesser included. Your Honor, he knew it wasn't his when he took it. You didn't establish that, Mr. Peters. And truth be told, you didn't even allege it. Ms. Simms is right. You didn't prove concurrence between mind and act. I have no choice but to enter a finding of not guilty. Mr. Harris, you are free to go. You got lucky this time. If you're here to borrow my cell phone, the answer's no. I'm here to say thank you and to apologize for... Threatening to kill me? I did not threaten to kill you. I just said I'd get you. And by that, I mean, you know, disconnect your satellite dish or something. Anyway, I'm sorry I doubted you and really grateful for...