The Huffington Post is reporting that former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor's lawyer Courtenay Griffiths is hopping mad, to such an extent that he tore out of the courtroom on Tuesday after judges refused to accept a written summary of the former Liberian president's defense at the end of his landmark war-crimes case. Griffiths ignored judges at the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone, who ordered him to stay in court after unprecedented angry exchanges erupted before closing arguments in the three-year case. The Huffington Post reported that Griffiths stated, "How will posterity judge the credibility of this court if, at this 11th hour, they prevented Mr. Taylor from presenting … 90 percent of his closing arguments?" Griffiths said outside court. "We have decided not to participate in these closing arguments because as far as we are concerned, it is a complete farce."
Prosecutor Brenda Hollis argued that neither Taylor nor his lawyers had the right to walk out. They can walk out if they want to, but the case against Taylor will continue with or without them. Griffiths is only hurting his client by storming out. When he calms down, perhaps he'll figure that out.
Read more at the Huffington Post.
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