How Much Sincerity Did Jose Baez Muster?

This article is the second to examine the apology offered by Jose Baez to Jeff Ashton in open court on Friday, March 4, 2011.  Mr. Baez may be seen and heard at the following link.

http://www.wftv.com/video/27081023/index.html

Jose Baez: “I apologize directly to Mr. Ashton for any personal attacks I may have spoken to him both privately and publicly.  And because none of which… I think this an easy thing to do because it is something I agree with and believe and not because of prompting needed from anyone.  I have a great deal of amount of respect for these prosecutors who sit here.  I… I also admire their passion for their cause.  And I respect their intelligence and dedication to their work.  And many times over the last several years we have all butt heads privately and we’ve all agreed on many things privately and I just wanted to make it clear that unfortunate sometimes and… unfortunately because of the magnification of a case like this, the attention that these things get speculated on and dragged on and it is an ugly reflection of what we do in our profession and I think it’s my obligation to clear that up.  And I want the court to know with all the sincerity that I can muster, that this is truly what I believe and it is truly what I aspire to do each and every day that I carry out in this honorable profession of being a defense lawyer.  Thank you.”

“I apologize directly to Mr. Ashton for any personal attacks I may have spoken to him both privately and publicly” – Mr. Baez offers a limited apology to Mr. Ashton.  Mr. Baez does not apologize for any written “personal attacks”, only those “spoken”.  His listeners, including Judge Perry, may be aware the written retort from Mr. Baez in response to the prosecution’s filed objection to the defense’s most recent disregard for court orders were peppered with many insults to Mr. Ashton.  “Attacks” is limited to only those which were “personal”, professional attacks are not up for apology.  Even those these “attacks” were “personal”, they were “spoken” “both privately and publicly”.  What is the definition of “both privately and publicly”?  Is Mr. Baez saying he and Mr. Ashton spend time together “privately” and not connected to this case?  Or does “privately” refer to unrecorded phone calls?  Does “publicly” mean in front of other people or in the courthouse or on television?  The phrase “I may have spoken” is a sure sign of insincerity.  Mr. Baez offers an apology, yet denies knowledge of his actions which necessitated the need for the apology.  If Mr. Baez does not know for what he apologizes, how can anyone else?  “Spoken to him” limits the apology to only those “attacks” Mr. Baez verbalized directly to Mr. Ashton, therefore no apology is offered for anything Mr. Baez said about Mr. Ashton to the press or anyone else, either privately or publicly.  Much like a four-year-old who is sorry he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but not sorry about the three cookies he wolfed down before being stopped, Mr. Baez seems far more contrite Mr. Ashton heard any “attacks” than he is about actually making the “attacks”.  Mr. Baez does not understand why he should be apologizing or the purpose of an apology.

“And because none of which…” – Mr. Baez begins to minimize the effect of any “attacks” which he may or may not have said directly to Mr. Ashton, but stops himself, visibly tripping over his words as he switches topics.

“I think this an easy thing to do because it is something I agree with and believe and not because of prompting needed from anyone” – Mr. Baez believes it is “easy” to apologize to Mr. Ashton for three reasons, listed in the order of importance to Mr. Baez.  First, Mr. Baez agrees with his own course of action.  It is most important to Mr. Baez for the court to understand Mr. Baez agrees with himself.  If there is anyone in the world who Mr. Baez is not in disagreement with over his treatment of Mr. Ashton, it is himself.  Mr. Baez is his own cheerleader.  Of next most importance is reason number two, Mr. Baez believes in apologizing to Mr. Ashton.  Did Mr. Baez also “believe” the best course of action earlier was to insult Mr. Ashton “both privately and publicly”?  Finally, Mr. Baez apologizes to Mr. Ashton “not because of prompting” from another party who shall remain naMASONless.

“I have a great deal of amount of respect for these prosecutors who sit here” – Mr. Baez has “a great deal of amount of” something which causes him so much verbal consternation he mangles a simple phrase like “a great deal of” by mixing in additional unneeded words.  Somebody is sensitive to stating aloud his alleged “respect” for “these prosecutors”.  Mr. Baez sees “these prosecutors” as people “who sit here”, not as “these prosecutors” who have done admirable work for the state in preparing this case in a professional manner.

“And many times over the last several years we have all butt heads privately and we’ve all agreed on many things privately” – Mr. Baez wants the court to know he and the prosecutors do a lot of things “privately”, a word which now appears three times in the course of a few sentences.

“it is an ugly reflection of what we do” – Mr. Baez states what “we do” is to speculate and drag things on.  Although Mr. Baez contends the media mirrors this in their reporting and in so doing make it “ugly”, the news reports are a “reflection” of the business of a defense attorney, specifically Mr. Baez.

“And I want the court to know with all the sincerity that I can muster” – Mr. Baez states he is not sincere, so he must “muster” “sincerity”.  One either is or is not sincere, one cannot “muster” “sincerity”.

“that this is truly what I believe and it is truly what I aspire to do each and every day that I carry out in this honorable profession of being a defense lawyer” – Mr. Baez ends with a sentence of such jumbled references, no one can be sure what he is saying.  What is it Mr. Baez “truly” believes and is “truly” aspiring to do?  From the grammatical construction of the paragraph, the most likely reference is Mr. Baez’s obligation to clear up the ugly media reflection of his own life.

We have learned Mr. Baez should leave mustering to military professionals and stick to mustarding his baloney sandwiches while he ruminates on methods of clearing up the ugly media coverage of his personal foreclosures and failures to pay invoices.