In a small Southern Mississippi town an elderly grandmother was questioned in court as a witness to a crime.
In an attempt to establish the credibility of the witness the prosecuting counsel asked her, “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?”
The woman quickly responded, “Yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a boy and frankly you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.”
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?”
She replied, “Why yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He’s lazy, bigoted and had a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.”
The defense attorney stared in shocked disbelief.
The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench. Leaning across the bench he said in a very quiet voice, “If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair.”
The moral of the story - If you don’t want to hear the answer, don’t ask the question.
