In this case the government seems to have overreached but I'd wager his behavior caused the jury to want to punish him just for being a jerk.

The facts in this case, however, do not even seem to have been under dispute, so one could probably have ruled from the bench.

The judge, as opposed to the jury, can reward or punish behavior before the court.

And of course, the behavior before court can lead the jury to consider the defendant more or less likely to have committed the respective crimes. So it can have an effect even on the fact finding. Which is sort of disconcerting since it also means that a smooth talker might get off lighter. But that's not rewarding or punishing smooth talk, but rather getting swayed by it.

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• Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, July 03 2013 @ 06:14 PM EDT
• Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 04 2013 @ 09:46 AM EDT