by TChris

Philadelphia public defender Fred Goodman had a tough assignment: defending Abdul Malik El-Shabazz against charges that he raped and murdered 6-year-old Destiny Wright. The job got tougher when El-Shabazz, at the conclusion of the prosecution's case, sucker punched Goodman in the face.

El-Shabazz and Goodman evidently had a strategic disagreement about the theory of defense.

On March 10, after Goodman told jurors that his client killed the little girl and the debatable issue "is the difference between first-degree murder and second-degree murder" El-Shabazz screamed, "I'm innocent! That's what the D.A. and my lawyers won't tell you."

Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan sent the jury home after a sheriff's deputy tackled El-Shabazz and dragged him out of the courtroom. The prosecution is opposing a mistrial, but the judge would be inviting reversal if she forced Goodman to continue representing El-Shabazz. She might think that punching counsel is tantamount to waiving counsel, but requiring El-Shabazz to start representing himself midway through a murder trial would also lead to reversal. A mistrial is inevitable.