What I Learned from the Judge Reflections on Civility, Professionalism, and the Practice of Law

• Publication year: 2022
• Pages: 44

What I Learned from the Judge Reflections on Civility, Professionalism, and the Practice of Law Vol. 33 Issue 6 Pg. 44 South Carolina Bar Journal May, 2022

By Mark Fava.

From 1994 to 1996, I worked as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable David C. Norton in Charleston. Judge Norton was my first exposure to judges and lawyers of the South Carolina Bar. He was an exceptional boss who taught me lessons about civility, professionalism, and legal excellence. Those lessons have contributed to my success over the past quarter of a century. Here are some stories about some of those lessons.

Treat all humans with respect

As a federal judicial law clerk, I handled hundreds of complex cases. The most demanding cases were the death penalty appeals. Those cases had been litigated for many I years. They arrived at the judge's D chambers in dusty boxes full of trial exhibits, transcripts, and pleadings. The one I remember the most a involved death row inmate Doyle Cecil Lucas.

As Judge Norton would say, E Cecil Lucas did "not deserve much sympathy."^[1] In 1983, two days after being paroled from prison, Lucas broke into an elderly couple's home in Rock Hill in the middle of the night. After killing the couple, Lucas loaded up their belongings, which included a camera and costume jewelry, into a bloody pillowcase. Lucas then left in the couple's grey Chrysler and parked it in his driveway overnight. The next day, he took the pillowcase to his neighbor's house and showed them the stolen goods. When he was arrested, he was wearing the deceased's watch.^[2] Judge Norton assigned me to review Lucas's habeas corpus death penalty appeal more than 10 years after the murders. In the midst of that review, Lucas filed a section 1983 lawsuit against three correctional officers of the South Carolina Department of Corrections alleging they had severely beaten him resulting in significant facial bruising.

Lucas was not a model prisoner. He had a history of fighting correctional officers. On December 21, 1992, while drunk on death row on homemade alcohol, he started to fight with the defendants when he refused to go to an isolation cell. The defendants testified they used the force necessary to subdue "a drunken, violent, resisting, profane, belligerent prisoner."^[3]

Lucas testified that his injuries resulted from the defendants' dropping him on the floor while handcuffed, hitting his face, and slamming him into the prison bars. However, the defendants' stated that Lucas's injuries occurred when he tripped and fell on his face while attempting to avoid Lucas spitting on them.

Judge Norton presided over this case in federal court for over four days in Columbia. The jury was comprised of four white jurors and four Black jurors.^[4] Lucas was white, and the three correctional officers were Black. Trial testimony revealed that Lucas had used racial slurs towards the guards.

On the first day of trial, Lucas was brought into the courtroom by three federal marshals. His legs were shackled, his wrists were cuffed at his waist, and his face was in a restraining mask. Two additional federal marshals were armed and present in the courtroom.

Before Judge Norton called the jury, Lucas's lawyer stated: "Your honor, we would respectfully request that the hand cuffs, leg shackles and face mask be removed from the Plaintiff so as to not prejudice the jury."

The two marshals standing behind Lucas looked at Judge Norton, shaking their heads "no." Judge Norton stated, "Mr. Lucas, this is my federal courtroom. I expect you to behave while you are here. I need you to give me your word that you are going to behave. Will you do that?"

"Yes, your honor," Lucas said through the face mask.

"Okay, Mr. Lucas, don't let me down," Judge Norton stated.

Next, Judge Norton instructed, "Take off the face mask and the handcuffs. Leave the leg shackles on. The jury won't see those under the table."

Lucas behaved in the courtroom during the four-day trial. All of Lucas's witnesses were death row inmates whose testimonies were introduced via deposition.^[5]

Ultimately, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Lucas, finding that the guards had savagely beaten him. The jury awarded him ten cents in damages.

On a post-trial motion for plaintiff's attorneys' fees, Judge Norton found that the nominal ten-cent verdict justified a fee award. In rendering that decision...