My father was a judge in a small town. A police officer had ticketed a driver for speeding. At trial, the officer asked to approach the bench and speak with my father; my father allowed it. The defendant insisted that whatever was said should be repeated in open court (and he was legally right to insist on that). My father asked the officer to repeat what he had said, and in a crowded courtroom the officer told the story of how the driver tried to bribe him to keep this quiet because his blonde passenger was not his wife. I have never heard a courtroom erupt in such laughter, nor have I ever seen a more embarrassed defendant.
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