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At least he didn’t call the judge “sugar tits”
If there’s anything my law school and law firm days taught me, it’s that many lawyers drink. A lot. There’s no denying that. But most of them have at least a semblance of professionalism, knowing that there’s a time and place for imbibing. But a Las Vegas attorney by the name of Joseph Caramango has apparently been spending a little too much time in Sin City and must now be displeased to learn that whatever happens in Vegas does not, as promised, always stay in Vegas.
See, Caramango was defending a man in a criminal trial where said man was facing life imprisonment. Kinda’ an important thing. So when Caramango showed up 90 minutes late for the trial, with his speech a little slurry, the judge asked if he was ok. I’m sure you can now see where this is going. Caramango claimed that he’d just gotten into a car accident and banged his noggin, which was why he was late and a little out of it. The judge also asked Caramango who the woman was that came in with him, and the attorney said she was an ex-girlfriend named Christine. When the judge asked “Christine,” directly, who she was, she said her name was actually Josephine and that she met Caramango about 20 minutes ago in a nearby bar/coffee shop. Whoops.
Because of inconsistencies in his story like this little Christine/Josephine thing, the judge didn’t buy Caramango’s story and made him blow into a breathalyzer, which revealed that Caramango had a blood-alcohol level of 0.075. Caramango claims that this test wasn’t accurate and that, anyway, “If it proved anything, it proved I was not intoxicated.” Apparently, his logic is that because he blew below Nevada’s legal limit for driving (which is 0.08) then he wasn’t actually drunk and all is good in the world. Tool.
Needless to say, a mistrial was declared, although the attorney was not held in contempt, which is a little mindboggling. If showing up late and loaded for a criminal trial, recently met floozy in tow, isn’t contemptuous of the courtroom, well then I really don’t know what is.
