CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Decalogue Society of Lawyers announced today that it has filed a friend of the court brief in support of overturning a medical malpractice verdict in which defense counsel introduced plaintiffs' religion to the jury during his closing by telling a "Jewish" joke with a derogatory inflection that played on the prejudicial stereotype that Jews stick together.
"The Decalogue Society of Lawyers believes that what happened in this case should never happen in any courtroom," said Stephen Baime, Decalogue President. "The issue involves a matter of public interest that affects all persons who turn to the courts for justice free of cultural, racial, ethnic and religious prejudice or bias."
The brief argues that plaintiffs' right to a fair trial was violated by the improper prejudicial closing argument and runs afoul of what courts should ever condone. The brief cites to Anti-Defamation League statistics that more than half of Americans, including those who have been classified as not anti-Semitic, believe the statement: Jews stick together more than other Americans.
"Irrelevant, religious references, statements and, most certainly, jokes should never be tolerated and can never be found harmless, especially by a court whose mission it is to root out prejudice and deliver justice," argues the Society. "The plaintiffs are entitled to justice, not a 'hope' that justice will prevail, but the real thing untarnished by improperly prejudicial statements. Anything short of a fair trial the State guarantees them will serve to perpetuate prejudice and send the message that courts tolerate the intolerable."
The brief was prepared by Michael B. Hyman, Co-Chair of the Society's Legal Education Series and Financial Secretary, and member Michael Moskovitz, both of the law firm of Much Shelist Freed Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, 200 North LaSalle Street, Suite, 2100, Chicago, IL.
The case is Tiersky v. Vasquez, Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill. 1-02-2255.
The Decalogue Society of Lawyers is an organization of attorneys and judges of the Jewish faith, most practicing in Illinois, but also including members throughout the United States. The Society seeks to bring increased dignity and honor to the legal profession, and a principle mission of the Society is maintain vigilance against practices that are anti-social, discriminatory, anti-Semitic or oppressive, particularly when those acts occur in connection with a legal proceeding. The Society's headquarters are in Chicago.