And if you're wrong, you have to be big enough to reverse yourself or give the attorneys the chance to reargue. They can get the driver's license, but they're never fully comfortable with it. I think that can be said of judges. Recently in Suffolk, more judges have been elected directly to County or Supreme Court without lower-court experience. The relatively newer wave of judges coming in, their lack of understanding of the law shows through, said one lawyer who has worked extensively in criminal and civil courts.
Jurors have the right to a smooth proceeding.
Many lawyers, for example, noted that Spinner relied so heavily on his law secretary that it caused delays and in some cases questionable rulings. He coached the judge on every move he made. Spinner declined to comment. During Spinner's first week on the bench, his law secretary repeatedly crouched behind Spinner and whispered in the judge's ear, correcting errors as the judge read plea agreements into the record and apparently tutoring him on how to handle arraignments and guilty pleas. At one point, Spinner appeared ready to arraign a defendant who had no attorney until the law secretary whispered to Spinner, who then gave the defendant two days to find a lawyer.