With the caveat that news reporting on legal proceedings often doesn’t convey the entire situation; if Keith Roydson’s report in the Muncie Star Press on the injunction hearing for Delaware County’s smoking ban is mostly accurate and if I was in the shoes of the presiding judge, I would have been reading the riot act to former Representative Bruce Munson.
Apparently, they started the hearing. Munson represented the challengers to the smoking ban, and an attorney named Donald Dunnuck represented the County. After they presented opening arguments:
Asked by Vorhees to call his first witness, Munson said, “Donald H. Dunnuck.”
Dunnuck, sitting at the table opposite Munson, asked, “Who did you say you were going to call?”
“Donald H. Dunnuck,” Munson told Dunnuck. “If you know someone of that name.”
Dunnuck was obviously taken off guard. Munson had not, apparently, done Dunnuck or the court the courtesy of advising of his intent to call Dunnuck as a witness. Not to put too fine a point on it; he seems to have wasted everyone’s time. The hearing immediately stopped because now the court has to sort out whether Dunnuck is, in fact, a likely source of relevant, non-privileged testimony and, if so, the County is entitled to get another attorney.
This part floored me:
Munson told Vorhees he would reserve the right to object to Dunnuck continuing as attorney after having been a witness. When Dunnuck started to respond, Munson interrupted, “He’s a witness now, your honor.”
I’m pretty easy to get along with; but if it were me, I would have taken pretty unkindly to being interrupted and let him know that I wasn’t a witness until the judge said I was.
I’m open to the possibility that I don’t know enough of the facts, but from the report in the paper, this looks like a dick move that wasted everyone’s time.
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