Two lawyers started to leave the witness stand before cross-examination in the first hour of a contempt hearing Monday involving the supervisor of elections office’s performance in Mardi Levey Cohen’s judicial race last November. Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney Bill Gelin, who runs the courthouse blog JAABlog, stood up to leave before Snipes’ attorney, Burnadette Norris-Weeks, had a chance to ask him any questions. "You are a trial attorney?" asked retired Miami-Dade Judge Richard Yale Feder. "I’m just a little nervous," Gelin responded amid chuckles after he resumed his seat. Two witnesses later, attorney Alix Wolf, Cohen’s cousin, also forgot about the defense side. The attorneys were called by Cohen, who is seeking $65,000 in sanctions against Snipes for failing to inform the public that she was a candidate in a runoff even though her name wasn’t on the ballot. Even lawyers forget trial rules when the tables are turned and they end up on the witness stand.
