We recently had a client charged with speeding 17 mph over the limit in the small village of let’s call it East Egg (you know from the Great Gatsby). Generally, at this court, it is difficult to obtain plea bargains but this guy had a really good defense.
He is a locksmith and was called by the Coast Guard to help un-lock their gun rack. They had mis-placed their keys to the gun rack and it was almost time for their ships to launch and patrol our coast line (but they couldn’t without their guns).
My client was rushing to help when he was stopped by the police officer.
At our court conference, we explained the above situation and as a result obtained a favorable reduction. This was fortunate because, given the national security implications of this speeding ticket, I was otherwise ready to invoke the “Animal House” defense.
You know the scene:
John “Bluto” Blutarsky (aka John Belushi): “Do you remember when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”
Donald “Boon” Schoenstein (Peter Riegert): “Germans?”
Eric “Otter” Stratton (Tim Matheson): “Forget it, he’s on a roll”
Or that other scene from the same movie when Otter declares”I am not going to stand here while you bad mouth the United States of America!”.
Anyway, fortunately, our national security was not jeopardized and the Germans did not invade while our client was being detained for the issuance of this speeding ticket.