{"id":99696,"date":"2025-01-09T12:02:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T20:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/01\/09\/judge-wears-vr-headset-to-view-defendants-account-of-events-and-what-fresh-hell-is-this\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T12:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T20:02:25","slug":"judge-wears-vr-headset-to-view-defendants-account-of-events-and-what-fresh-hell-is-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/01\/09\/judge-wears-vr-headset-to-view-defendants-account-of-events-and-what-fresh-hell-is-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Wears VR Headset To View Defendant\u2019s Account Of Events And What Fresh Hell Is This?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtroom technology: all about coulda, not shoulda.
\nThe post Judge Wears VR Headset To View Defendant\u2019s Account Of Events And What Fresh Hell Is This? appeared first on Above the Law.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Screencap from WPLG 10 YouTube channel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a new dystopian hell unleashed upon the country from \u2014 *checks notes unnecessarily* \u2014 Florida, a judge has allowed lawyers to use a virtual reality presentation to show an immersive representation of the defendant\u2019s perspective in a \u2014 *checks notes unnecessarily again* \u2014 Stand Your Ground case.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a VR mod for Grand Theft Auto but real!<\/p>\n

Defendant owns an event venue and claims that violence broke out at a wedding and when he tried to break it up, a crowd of revelers cornered him to yell at him and he decided to pull a gun on them. Making this less a First-Person Shooter (FPS) than a First-Person Threatening Shooter (FPTS). Which might sound like aggravated assault with a deadly weapon trial and an affirmative defense of acting in self-defense, but Florida short-circuits that process with a Stand Your Ground law that allows the judge to make a preemptive determination that if the defendant \u201creasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,\u201d the charge can get tossed without a trial.<\/p>\n

During the testimony of the defense expert\u2026 wait, hold on. What kind of \u201cexpert\u201d is there for \u201cthis is an acceptable time to wave a gun at people\u201d testimony? Do you need to do post baccalaureate work for that gig? Not knocking expert testimony generally, but usually it\u2019s focused on complex questions of science or methodology and not \u201cin my professional opinion as an employee of the defense, I believe the defendant was justified in doing the exact thing he\u2019s charged with doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, the defense expert testified about the defendant\u2019s account of events and had a visual aide to go with it.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Screencap from WPLG 10 YouTube channel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI want my MTV<\/a>\u201d he\u2019s presumably yelling.<\/p>\n

This is goofy and dumb, seeing as it adds nothing probative to a standard testimonial account. It\u2019s still the defendant\u2019s account of events just rendered like it\u2019s The Sims 4 Florida Man Expansion Pack.<\/p>\n

Seriously, someone please take these video clips and superimpose the original Sims sounds on them.<\/p>\n