November 13th, 2018
November 13th, 2018
13 Nov 2018 · page 850 of 1306

fool for a client, etc etc.

Cast: Vincent Knott, Will Sharpe

Comments (57)

  • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

    A shame the Darwin awards don't exist yet.

    • Michael Brewer 7 years ago archived

      Yeah, he'd definitely have won one in the morning.

      • Maria Gerasimova 7 years ago archived

        Perhaps two :)

        One for his theory, another for his advocating.

        • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

          All the best awards have multiple bad decisions that lead to an unfortunate outcome.

    • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

      He's definitely a man ahead of his time. nods


      I await the "which I got off a man in a pub" nugget cropping up with baited breath. :P

    • BrokenEye 7 years ago archived

      If you gave him a Darwin Award, he'd try to accept it in person

  • Michael Brewer 7 years ago archived

    Hmmm.... Ok, now we have another name to be suspicious about. Justice Adderstone are you up to something?

    • Moe Lane 7 years ago archived

      'Adderstone' is a lovely villain name.

      • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

        Village name turned surname. No, really.


        It's a contraction and mangling of "Eadred's farmstead" -- Eadreds|ton (ton = stead/town) >> some vowel shifting and misinterpretation later as Ænglisc goes English >> Adder|stan or Edder|stan (stan = stone) >> some Normans pretty up the spelling while playing tug-o-war with Berwick >> Adder|stone.


        [See?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderstone "https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderstone") Poor Tweed resident (and farmer) Eaddy was forgotten somewhere along the way. :/

      • BrokenEye 7 years ago archived

        Come to think of it, I think he might've been an owl-fancier as well

    • Sturzkampf 7 years ago archived

      Missing evidence? Remarkably harsh punishment? If we're talking conspiracy theories, perhaps this a conspiracy by all the ladies Sharpe has had his wicked way with and then discarded.

      • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

        Um. I think Will is perfectly capable of losing anything if you leave it with him long enough. Opsec is... in short... not likely to be his natural forté.


        He looks like the kind of guy who will loiter around the main door of the university dorms for three hours in a winter cold snap hoping to cadge an entrance, while never once admitting he forgot his wallet, key and ID card up in his room when he decided to nip out for some pommade. :P


        The essay could well have ended up in dangerous hands, but I doubt a conspiracy was needed. :/

  • dokiti 7 years ago archived

    It's not like our hero hangman is a lawyer either but look at him lawyeing!

    • Greenwood Goat 7 years ago archived

      Well, it's entirely possible that Vince is better and more experienced at law than Will's chosen "legal representative"...

      • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

        I'd say that's a certainty.


        Since, that is how any solicitor or barrister, associate or not, would respond upon hearing those immortal words. Even the prosecution would reflexively wince and have to bottle the full facepalm/ bookface up before breaking out in pained smiles. :P

      • John 7 years ago archived

        Well, Vince is 3 for 3 and Will is 0 for 1 so if I had to pick one of them I would go with Vince.

  • Greenwood Goat 7 years ago archived

    Moments From History no. 31: Vincent Knott invents "Facebooking".


    Will Sharpe: That gives me an idea!


    [...]


    Justice Adderstone: For your invention of this so-called "social media", in addition to the sentence of hanging already imposed, I sentence that you also be drawn and quartered, and your head be displayed on a "like"- I mean a pike! - as a warning to all. Furthermore, I find you in contempt of court for that... badge!


    Will Sharpe: What, this?? points to his "I'm the FOUNDER, peasant!" badge theatrically overdone sigh Some people have no sense of humour.


    [...]


    Vincent: I-I-I've got to WHAT, now??!?? gibbers


    Prison Governor: Well, you do get to wear some classic ceremonial apparel... holds up executioner's hood ...that's just been gathering dust otherwise. Helps with stage fright too, so I hear.


    Vincent: D-: dissolves


    >:=)>

  • John 7 years ago archived

    You... represented yourself... in a capital case... because it was too important to trust to an expert who would know far more about what he or she was doing than you did. That my friend is called hubris, and if the Greeks are to be believed death is the natural consequence.

    • Percabeth_trash 7 years ago archived

      Death (and eternal punishment in the afterlife) or being turned into a spider. Not sure which is worse...

      • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

        I'd go with staying with Hades and Persephone over most of the alternatives. Just as long as I hadn't tried to hit on Hades in front of her. Or tried to hit on Persephone in front of him.


        I believe that would be called "really effing stupid". ;P

        • John 7 years ago archived

          Worse, Pirithous broke into the underworld so he could kidnap Persephone and have her for himself. I am not sure why it was not obvious to him how monumentally stupid that was.

  • Ghostdanser 7 years ago archived

    And it goes without saying (though I shall)...


    "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client"

    • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

      And to invoke Gomez Addams's addendum: "And with God as my witness, I am that fool!"

    • George the Archon 7 years ago archived

      How about a man who's soon to have his own executioner as a defence lawyer? 😏

  • brushtail 7 years ago archived

    Theory confirmed, he got the death sentence for annoying the judge.

    • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

      I think you meant "for going out of his way to annoy the judge".


      And, I'm disinclined to bring the judge before the bar on this one. You'd need the patience of a saintly angel to prevent yourself breaking out in a rash of irritated bias with this lad. :|


      I get the distinct impression that Will shrugged off every last attempt people made to thump him with a clue bat. -_-'

  • Jeudi Violist 7 years ago archived

    Random thought I had:


    What if he manages to prove that this guy doesn't deserve the death penalty, only in the process he also managed to prove that somebody else deserved the death penalty so he still had to go through with it anyway?

    • codebracker 7 years ago archived

      Yeah but you can't convict someone else in a trial against the first person (afaik), it just causes a new trial against the second person to be started.

      • Haven 7 years ago archived

        Tell that to Phoenix Wright, though...

  • Qwefg Lockheart 7 years ago archived

    And now you know why wizards don't rule the world and why there seem to be a small amount of them despite their vast usefulness to society.

    • Darkening 7 years ago archived

      It helps that magic only works in certain parts of the world.

      • Emily 7 years ago archived

        I think magic works everywhere - it just works better near the anchors.

        • BrokenEye 7 years ago archived

          I don't know if it works better near the anchors so much as it works more

          • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

            Welcome to Widdershins: Where You Can Do Great Things or Screw Up in Really, Really Exciting Ways!

            • Euodiachloris 7 years ago archived

              I note you left off the "New", Sanjay.


              There's truly nothing new in this "spectacularly fluffed my self-defence in a major trial" mess. xD

              • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

                Some disasters are classics for a reason.

  • BCB 7 years ago archived

    Okay, now I’m starting to suspect that the judge is part of a Fairbairn-esk plot. That, or this guy actually DID test his method, on himself, and gave himself his current attitude as well as erasing the memory of what he did.

  • Sleepygenes 7 years ago archived

    Wait... Why is it bad he represented himself?

    • Fairportfan 7 years ago archived

      Because there is no better way to guarantee a conviction.


      Even refusing to answer the case against you is less likely to result in a "guilty" verdict.

      • Sleepygenes 7 years ago archived

        Really? That's strange... Why is that?

        • Fairportfan 7 years ago archived

          Ask any lawyer - a prosecutor or a defence attorney, either one.


          Or look around and find news accounts of high-profile, high-stakes cases in which the defendant represented himself.


          Let's put it this way. If you're not an aeronautical engineer, would you attempt to build your own airplane {aside from a kit plane} for your family to fly in?


          If you're not an electrician, would you attempt to wire your own home, installing several high-load appliances and your own generator?


          {And i don't mean with help - i mean totally on your own, with no advice at all?}

          • CF 7 years ago archived

            I bought a house once and learned that the idiot who owned it before me decided he was handy enough to wire it himself.

            He also decided to 'repair' the sump pump with a garden hose in an area that frequently experiences well-below freezing temps, which I discovered when my basement was 6 inches deep in freezing water on Valentine's day.


            (I had gotten it professionally inspected before buying but clearly the inspector was as competent as the previous homeowner)

            Needless to say the money I saved talking him down 50k went into getting professionals in to repair and rewire everything.

        • Michael Brewer 7 years ago archived

          The Law is complicated. If you don't know anything about the law, then you're gonna trip yourself up and lose.

        • JWLM 7 years ago archived

          Several reasons. First, it helps to like, you know, be a lawyer if you're going to represent yourself in court. Courtroom etiquette, protocol, motions, filings, all those things? (There's a special case: prisoners, since they may not have access to adequate counsel.) Second, it helps to have somebody else pleading your case. It's easier for them to ask questions in ways you never would -- and because it's somebody else, it doesn't splash back on you. Third, it helps to have someone else handling the details during a trial...you're likely to be in an emotional state, and having somebody else there who isn't is a Good Thing.

    • Darkoneko Hellsing 7 years ago archived

      the same reason it's usually bad in real life, they don't know [beep] about laws

    • BrokenEye 7 years ago archived

      For roughly the same reasons it's bad to preform brain surgery on oneself

  • Fairportfan 7 years ago archived

    Hanging this boy would definitely result in a small but desireable increase in the average intelligence of humanity as a whole.

    • Darkoneko Hellsing 7 years ago archived

      depend. He still seems like he Wants to be the scapegoat, to me

  • Kaunisenkeli 7 years ago archived

    Hello, Dunning-Kreuger effect.

  • Dilandian 7 years ago archived

    The only voice coming to mind whenever Sharpe speaks is Nathan Fillion, I just... it... I might by type-casting but he seriously reminds me of Nathan Fillion.

  • GristleMcNerd 7 years ago archived

    You know, Vince, there comes a point where it's best to just let these things go... or grasp firmly and pull the lever, as the case may be.

  • Sanjay Merchant 7 years ago archived

    Between submitting a dangerous, untested, unethical crackpot theory as a last-minute homework assignment and representing himself in court, I think Knotty's best bet is to ask for leniency due to his client's insanity.

  • Kristen Thacker 7 years ago archived

    wait... If he was his his own lawyer do you think he knows that vincent is the hangman? Why would a lawyer be visiting hiim if he already had his trial?

  • Coldesta Lelast - Sorceress 7 years ago archived

    ... boy you absolute box of crackers...


    I'm a chaotic witch with half of a million years of existence going forward, backwards, and looping into time with carefully placed wards and rituals. But even I had to get a lawyer when Tinia and the Nords tried to argue with me about what I'm doing. Shout out to Themis, who would have ever thought an Erisian would need the personification of order as her counsel.

  • David Howard 7 years ago archived

    Oh ok so there was already a trial. Well, you're dead now buddy. Have fun with that.

  • awhorl 7 years ago archived

    So why is Will so relaxed? I'm guessing that it has something to do with his teacher's recent visit.

    Did his teacher "remove" his concern about his condition so he wouldn't try something more effective than scraping with a spoon, and thus stay put and be hanged like a good boy?

    Or did she promise him a reprieve of some kind--an escape plan, or a pardon, or some magic grandstanding to manipulate the anti-capital punishment demonstrators? They certainly are a convenient bit of interference to create a diversion for a last minute escape.

  • JWLM 7 years ago archived

    My question is: what else did he do? Death is a tremendously harsh penalty for what he's admitted to doing. We have no reason to believe he's telling the truth, though.

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