So, do you tell lies?

I've never picked up a book by Michael Connelly before but when I read these first lines from his novel, The Brass Verdict, I knew that its a book I would enjoy reading.

The first lines are: " Every body lies. Cops lie. Witnesses lie. The victims lie. A trial is a contest of lies. And every body in the courtroom knows this. The judge knows this. Even the jury knows this."

My thoughts: As some one who studied law, I began my life with great expectations of finding justice for victims. Maybe reading a lot of John Grisham novels had touched a chord, I am not sure. I remember feeling thrilled about the characters and their struggle for justice. However, in real life, it is really different. In India, justice is a beautifully marketed concept that is never fair. Justice, its concept and execution in India, is so blinded by the weight of so many lies, negotiations, media moves and illegal manoeuvres that the public can never begin to suspect how murky it really is.

Truth, i realized, is that everybody lies in the courtroom. It's no big deal to anyone as Connelly stated, every body lies and even judges know it but justice gets slotted out to those who probably said the most convincing lies.

The trick, as Connelly puts it, is to wait, not just for any lie but for "the one you can grab on to and forge like a hot iron into a sharpened blade. You then use that blade to rip the case open and spill its guts out to the floor..."

He states its a lawyer's job to forge and sharpen the blade without mercy or conscience. In Connelly's own words, "To be the truth in a place where every body lies."

Comments

Aravind Jose T. said…

And what's your take, Svara? :-)

July 7, 2010 at 7:03 PM

Swapna Raghu Sanand said…

My take's that the Truth always wins because Truth is God. You can hide it for sometime but not forever.

March 31, 2011 at 1:44 AM

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