How many times have we asked ourselves, why does it only happen to us?  Why doesn’t the prosecution ever have to suffer?  Now they do.  Schadenfreude comes immediately to mind, but to indulge in the joy of watching the prosecution twitch would be petty.  And yet, for the sake of legal analysis, we must.

After the victims rights cabal prevailed in the Phillip Coons case before the 11th Circuit, asserting their right to a table in the well under the CVRA, fears swelled about the impact of this innovation on the nature of the adversary system.  Due to my obvious bias, I assumed that the defense would be the first to fall victim to the victims.  Surprisingly, I was wrong.

At VC, conspirator Paul Cassell, who serves as one of the victims’ attorneys, alerts us to their first battle in the war for victimization:

In the wake of that ruling, the Government has filed a petition for panel rehearing with the Circuit. Now the victims (whom I represent along with other attorneys) have filed motion to strike the Government’s Rehearing Petition alleging a violation of their right to confer.

A few facts: The victims sought to confer with the Government before it filed any rehearing petition. The Government refused, sending a note to the victims that the right to confer in the CVRA does not extend that far.

The victims’ motion to strike, found here, contends that the Government’s failure to confer with them about the rehearing petition violated the CVRA and that the proper remedy for that violation (and others) is to strike the rehearing petition.

So the government doesn’t want to “confer” with the rabble and the rabble wants blood.  Government blood.  Oh my God.  That this insanity will wreak havoc with the operation of the criminal justice system was painfully obvious, not merely for the insertion of a third team in the game, but for the nature of the team, being comprised of feral cats, each of which running as hard and fast as possible in a different and entirely self-serving direction. 

But here’s the part that’s truly special.  If it was the defendant complaining about the interference of victims in the orderly functioning of the system, we would be seen as disingenuous and monumentally unsympathetic.  But it’s not the defense.  It’s the prosecution, our very own government charged with the protection of Americans, being hampered, hounded and held back by these complaining cowboys. 

Who can’t enjoy and appreciate naked mud-wrestling between victims and prosecutors?  Okay, sorry for the image.  It won’t happen again.  It’s just schadenfreude, and the defense doesn’t get too many opportunities to enjoy it.  It will be our turn to get into the battle soon enough.