The
Dark Skill - Portrait of a Prosecutor
“The
Accuser”*
The
prosecutor's, by obligation, is a special mind, coiled snake quick, bullying,
devious, unrelenting, forever baited to ensnare. It is devoted to
misleading, and by instinct dotes on confusion and flourishes on
weakness. Its search is for ordinary blemishes it can present
as festering boils, its obligation is to raise doubts or sour with
suspicion. It asks questions not to learn the truth but to convict, and
can read guilt into the most innocent of answers. Its hope, its aim, its
triumph, is to addle a witness by tricking, exhausting, or irritating him into
a verbal indiscretion which sounds like a damaging admission. To natural lapses
of memory it gives the appearance either of stratagems for hiding misdeeds, or
worse still, of lies dark and deliberate. Feigned and wheedling
politeness, sarcasm that scalds, intimidation, surprise and besmirchment by
innuendo, association or suggestion, at the same time that any intention to
besmirch is denied. . . all these as methods and devices are
such staples in the prosecutor's repertoire that his depraved mind returns to
them again and again as a dog returns to his vomit. Eventually, by
imperceptible degrees, he loses all decency and renders himself unfit for any
human community, his professional skills having robbed him of his soul.
Anon
*The word Satan was not originally the
proper name of an evil supernatural being. Satan was the title of a court
official. In ancient courts the person who had the official function of
“blaming” a citizen bore the title “Satan”. The person we call
"prosecutor" was called “Satan” by the ancients. That is why the
Bible refers to Satan as "The Accuser".
The source of the above portrait of a
prosecutor is uncertain. I first discovered it in the book “Anatomy of a
Murder”. However, I have seen several versions that predate “Anatomy of a
Murder”. Of course, I have done my own editing and added a word here and
there.
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