Some members of the legal profession and other court-watchers are cringing over the way Judge Larry Seidlin wept – no, sobbed – on live, national TV as he announced a ruling in the dispute over where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried.
Some are accusing the brash former New York cab driver of showboating for the cameras, or worse, auditioning for his own courtroom TV show, with his one-liners, his personal asides, and his smart-alecky delivery during the six-day hearing.
They say that he let the hearing drag on way too long, that he made inappropriate jokes for a dispute over a body, that he acted as if it were all about him.
“He’s like Judge Judy’s wacky little brother,” legal analyst Jefrey Toobin quipped on CNN.
The New York Post yesterday called him a “Weepy Wacko,” while the Daily News asked, “How Low Can This Judge Go?” and referred to him as “Blubbering Seidlin.”
One of the Miami’s most celebrated defence attorneys, Roy Black, said of the circus-like scene in Seidlin’s courtroom: “I sort of think it gives circuses a bad name.”
Black said he was torn between being entertained as a spectator and being horrified as a legal professional.
“I thought he was one of the most entertaining things I had ever seen. He could be a TV judge. He could be a stand-up comic. However, I think he makes a horrible judge,” Black said. “He doesn’t follow any of the rules or procedures.”
In court, the 56-year-old Seidlin talked about his wife and divulged the minutiae of his days, mentioning his morning swim and the tuna sandwich he was having when assigned the case. Lawyers became known by their home states of “Texas” or “California.”
The hearing often became a free-for-all, with the various parties talking at the same time. On the last day of the hearing, Seidlin cut witnesses off altogether.
From the bench, he freely aired his thoughts, including “I feel for you, Mama” to Smith’s mother.
And just when everyone was ready for testimony to spill into one final day, he issued his ruling.
In the end, though, Black said he agreed with Seidlin’s tearful ruling that custody of Smith’s body go to the court-appointed lawyer representing her 5-month-old baby, Dannielynn, and he said he thought the judge’s emotions were genuine.
“I believe that he sincerely tried to do the right thing,” he said.
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