There have been some pretty wild reactions to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars but this one might be the wildest.
A Virginia defense lawyer, Dirk Padgett, tried to use Will slapping Chris to explain why his client murdered someone. Padgett’s explanation was his client snapped just like Will did according to the NY Post.
Attorney Dirk Padgett told jurors during closing arguments that William Reno Ray, who was on trial on two counts of first-degree murder, simply “snapped” — just like the actor did when he smacked Chris Rock.
“Things you wouldn’t ordinarily do you do — like Will Smith,” Padgett told jurors, The Roanoke Times reported.
“I bet he wishes he could take back,” he said of Smith. “But he can’t. You can’t unbreak a stick.
In court Tuesday, Padgett maintained his 25-year-old client similarly lost his cool when he stabbed Eric Surface, 44, more than 20 times and killed him, then drowned 42-year-old April Barnicoat in her own bathtub.
The lawyer even sprinkled in some Teddy Roosevelt for the jurors, reciting the former president and Rough Rider’s description of being in the heat of battle.
The defense obviously didn’t work because it’s asinine and his client was convicted on 2 counts of first-degree murder in just 2 hours. Padgett got some publicity though.
You don’t normally just lose your cool and stab someone 20 times and then on top of that drown someone in a bathtub. That would be like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock and then deciding to take a chair and beat him over the head for ten minutes. At some point, you go from losing your cool and being a murderer.
Good effort on the lawyer’s part, because it was obviously going to be a hail mary to try to get his client off and it didn’t work.
Flip the page to hear the lawyer’s closing arguments.
