PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015
By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net
In the civil case of Billy Doe vs. the Archdiocese of Philadelphia et al., it’s all over before it even got started.
This morning, lawyers in the case were scheduled to pick a jury in Courtroom 480 at City Hall, in preparation for going to trial at 9:30 a.m. Monday, “trial date certain,” according to the court docket.
But late last night, Billy Doe’s lawyers notified other lawyers in the case that the trial was off and the case was “being discontinued.”
The big question is why. The short answer appears to be that with no money left on the table, Billy Doe’s lawyers decided not to risk exposing their client’s complete lack of credibility by proceeding with what would have been at best, a show trial. A show trial where the only thing left to gain was some headlines about a big jury verdict that they would have never been able to collect from the three penniless defendants left in the case.
But on the risk side of the risk/reward ledger, there was a chance, depending on the judge’s rulings, that the show trial could have turned into a real trial, and Billy Doe would have been unmasked in court as a complete fraud. The next big question is what was it that Billy Doe and his lawyers were so afraid of coming out that they didn’t want to run the risk of going ahead with the trial, and putting their boy on the stand?
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