The opportunities for legal
procrastination are so numerous that in a complicated case the
defence may often delay matters for over a year. This may be
an important factor in the final result.
Yet even this is not enough, for, ultimately, it is the
judge's charge to the jury which is going to guide their
deliberations and, in large measure, determine their verdict.
The lawyers for the defence, therefore, prepare long
statements of what they either believe or pretend to believe
to be the law. These statements embrace all the legal
propositions, good or bad, favorable to their side of the
case. If they can induce the judge to follow these so much
the better for their client, for even if they are not law it
makes no difference, since the State has no appeal from an
acquittal in a criminal case, no matter how much the judge has
erred. In the same way, but not in quite the same fashion,
the district attorney prepares "requests to charge," but his
desire for favorable instructions should be, and generally is,
curbed by the consideration that if the judge makes any
mistake in the law and the defendant is convicted he can
appeal and upset the case.
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