Defense Lawyer's Pants Catch Fire During Arson Trial

[kamalktk]

http://m.torontosun.com/2017/03/09/fire-erupts-in-lawyers-pants-during-arson-trial


A defence lawyer was on fire in a Miami courtroom Wednesday afternoon — literally.

Stephen Gutierrez was on a roll arguing during a trial that his client’s car had spontaneously combusted and was not purposely set on fire when he started to feel heat coming from his pants.

According to the Miami Herald, stunned spectators looked on as smoke started to billow out of Gutierrez’s right pocket during the arson trial.

Witnesses said prior to his sizzling arguments, the attorney was seen messing with something in his pocket. After smoke poured out of his pocket, Gutierrez bolted from the courtroom.

“It was surreal,” a witness told the Herald.

After jurors were ushered out, the lawyer returned unharmed and insisting it wasn’t a staged stunt gone wrong. Gutierrez blamed the smoke on a faulty battery in an e-cigarette that was in his pocket, according to the New York Post.

Gutierrez was representing 48-year-old Claudy Charles, who is on trial for intentionally setting a car on fire in South Miami. The lawyer had begun his closing arguments when the fire in his trousers erupted.

Despite the incident, Charles was convicted of second-degree arson.

Police and prosecutors are investigating the incident, seizing the dead e-cigarette batteries as evidence.

It’s possible Miami-Dade judge Michael Hanzman could decide to hold Gutierrez in contempt of court.

 

[rynner2]

This is the THIRD time a version of this story has been posted!

(It's also in Irony, and Courtroom Antics.)

 

[XBergMann]

This is the THIRD time a version of this story has been posted!

(It's also in Irony, and Courtroom Antics.)

I set my trousers on fire once as well and didn't notice at first.

Was staying in a posh hotel in Montreux and at breakfast they had those cavernous shiny metal receptacles with a couple of candles underneath to keep the scrambled eggs / bacon etc ... warm.

As I was leaving the serving area with my plate piled high with goodies I knocked gently against one of the big shiny metal things and it wobbled on its stand and some of the burning waxy stuff splashed onto my trousers. I then proceeded to walk back to my table with flames licking up the rear of my left trouser leg.

I didn't notice I was on fire at all as I was concentrating on holding a huge plate of breakfast goodies while I navigated around the chairs and tables back to my place.

Luckily the waiters were a bit more observant than me and I was set upon by 2 members of the serving staff wildly waving towels who put the flames out.

Both my trousers and the bottom of my suit jacket were ruined.

Since then I have developed a mild phobia for hot breakfast buffets especially when those big shiny things with candles underneath are in use.

I need to invent a word for this phobia

 

[Swifty]

B

I set my trousers on fire once as well and didn't notice at first.

Was staying in a posh hotel in Montreux and at breakfast they had those cavernous shiny metal receptacles with a couple of candles underneath to keep the scrambled eggs / bacon etc ... warm.

As I was leaving the serving area with my plate piled high with goodies I knocked gently against one of the big shiny metal things and it wobbled on its stand and some of the burning waxy stuff splashed onto my trousers. I then proceeded to walk back to my table with flames licking up the rear of my left trouser leg.

I didn't notice I was on fire at all as I was concentrating on holding a huge plate of breakfast goodies while I navigated around the chairs and tables back to my place.

Luckily the waiters were a bit more observant than me and I was set upon by 2 members of the serving staff wildly waving towels who put the flames out.

Both my trousers and the bottom of my suit jacket were ruined.

Since then I have developed a mild phobia for hot breakfast buffets especially when those big shiny things with candles underneath are in use.

I need to invent a word for this phobia

Buffetophobic ?

 

[XBergMann]

Not really as it is big shiny things with melted candles underneath that were the issue.

When I stay in posh hotels (which isn't too often) I always breathe a sigh of relief if there are no big shiny things with candles underneath in attendance.

You can see the offending big shiny things on the far right hand side of the photo in this link from the offending hotel.

http://www.fairmont.com/montreux/dining/sundaybrunch/

I might add that I was there at a trade conference and don't usually hang around in such an expensive place these days - at least not without wearing my asbestos trousers

 

[EnolaGaia]

Not really as it is big shiny things with melted candles underneath that were the issue. ...

The food service equipment trade name for such an item is chafing dish or simply chafer. I suppose the candidate phobia label search should therefore begin with something like chaferophobia.*

(* Not to be confused with:

(a) chachaferrophobia - the fear of practicing or exhibiting Latin dance moves while touching, or dancing within arcing distance of, any metallic object(s) suitable for attracting or conducting lightning discharges; or ...

(b) Chefaeriphobia - the Cold War Era fear that a specific location, or even the entire world, is infested by charismatic sprites dedicated to Marxist revolutionary objectives.)

 

[Graylien]

Did they compensate you for your burnt clothes?

 

[XBergMann]

Did they compensate you for your burnt clothes?

Yes they did ... I was working for the organiser of a trade show which was holding a posh CEO level type event at their establishment and only had the one suit with me so I needed another one immediately - the hotel manager was most apologetic told me to go and buy a new suit of the same make if possible and they refunded me the cost of the suit the same day. Although he did ask if they could keep the fire damaged articles for their insurance claim.

 

[Swifty]

Yes they did ... I was working for the organiser of a trade show which was holding a posh CEO level type event at their establishment and only had the one suit with me so I needed another one immediately - the hotel manager was most apologetic told me to go and buy a new suit of the same make if possible and they refunded me the cost of the suit the same day. Although he did ask if they could keep the fire damaged articles for their insurance claim.

Nice .. have some Buck65 - Pants on Fire (every thread needs a tune etc)

 

[hunck]

I set my trousers on fire once as well and didn't notice at first.

Was staying in a posh hotel in Montreux and at breakfast they had those cavernous shiny metal receptacles with a couple of candles underneath to keep the scrambled eggs / bacon etc ... warm.

As I was leaving the serving area with my plate piled high with goodies I knocked gently against one of the big shiny metal things and it wobbled on its stand and some of the burning waxy stuff splashed onto my trousers. I then proceeded to walk back to my table with flames licking up the rear of my left trouser leg.

I didn't notice I was on fire at all as I was concentrating on holding a huge plate of breakfast goodies while I navigated around the chairs and tables back to my place.

Luckily the waiters were a bit more observant than me and I was set upon by 2 members of the serving staff wildly waving towels who put the flames out.

Both my trousers and the bottom of my suit jacket were ruined.

Since then I have developed a mild phobia for hot breakfast buffets especially when those big shiny things with candles underneath are in use.

I need to invent a word for this phobia

Now that's what I call flared trousers.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Now that's what I call flared trousers.

Or in the US, hot pants.

 

[Swifty]

Or in the US, hot pants.

..and again .. a more relaxed pants on fire ....

 

[FelixAntonius]

I was told as a child that it had been fairly common for boxes of the Swan Vesta matches to catch fire in peoples pockets. Although even then, I wondered if it was more likely, due to the habit many smokers had at the time of returning their dog ends to their pocket for later reuse.

 

[Coal]

I was told as a child that it had been fairly common for boxes of the Swan Vesta matches to catch fire in peoples pockets. Although even then, I wondered if it was more likely, due to the habit many smokers had at the time of returning their dog ends to their pocket for later reuse.

It did happen. Swan Vesta are non-safety matches and you can strike one match-head against another. It's why 'some types of children' used them as percussion detonators for 'bolt bombs'.

This property, amusing when matches were placed in the frog of a brick for pub patrons to strike matches on, is why safety matches were introduced, where the striking part of the match box contain one of the chemicals required to light the match by friction and the match-head the other. All explained (in an interesting way) here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match

...except how to make 'bolt-bombs' which I never did. Oh no.

 

[Swifty]

It did happen. Swan Vesta are non-safety matches and you can strike one match-head against another. It's why 'some types of children' used them as percussion detonators for 'bolt bombs'.

This property, amusing when matches were placed in the frog of a brick for pub patrons to strike matches on, is why safety matches were introduced, where the striking part of the match box contain one of the chemicals required to light the match by friction and the match-head the other. All explained (in an interesting way) here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match

...except how to make 'bolt-bombs' which I never did. Oh no.

You've reminded me, we made matchstick rockets at school ... two matchsticks, the red ends wrapped tightly in a bit of foil paper and then heated with a lighter until they whizzed off.

An elderly lady gave me a carton of safety matches a couple of years back that are so old, the price on the boxes is 1 1/2 p .. they're way better than modern safety matches and the boxes themselves might as well have been made by IKEA, they're that sturdy ..

 

[JamesWhitehead]

we made matchstick rockets at school

I confess to having taken this explosive idea into the realm of the faked miracle. In my Catholic school, it was the ritual to have an electric votive-light on the platform beneath the statue of the BVM switched on when the Angelus was said at noon. By standing on a desk, I could reach the blue glass dome, remove it, replace the bulb with a collection of foil-wrapped match-heads and replace the dome. Time for Angelus: it's showtime, folks!

It was assumed to be an electrical fault, so the wire and plug disappeared.

The next miracle involved the BVM's change into a Black Virgin. This was effected by the simple technique of covering her head with a plastic butty-bag and igniting it. Had anyone pious been on patrol that lunchtime, the rather startling flames might have turned the place into a shrine. The Immaculate Virgin emerged from her ordeal with smiling composure and wore blackface for the rest of our time in school. I have several years in Purgatory to look forward to.

:cry:

 

[Swifty]

I confess to having taken this explosive idea into the realm of the faked miracle. In my Catholic school, it was the ritual to have an electric votive-light on the platform beneath the statue of the BVM switched on when the Angelus was said at noon. By standing on a desk, I could reach the blue glass dome, remove it, replace the bulb with a collection of foil-wrapped match-heads and replace the dome. Time for Angelus: it's showtime, folks!

It was assumed to be an electrical fault, so the wire and plug disappeared.

The next miracle involved the BVM's change into a Black Virgin. This was effected by the simple technique of covering her head with a plastic butty-bag and igniting it. Had anyone pious been on patrol that lunchtime, the rather startling flames might have turned the place into a shrine. The Immaculate Virgin emerged from her ordeal with smiling composure and wore blackface for the rest of our time in school. I have several years in Purgatory to look forward to.

:cry:

Good work sir ! ... my Dad once confessed to me that as a school lad, he once cemented a jelly cube (strawberry) to the light bulb above his teacher's desk .. the light was switched on by the teacher entering the room resulting in the jelly slowly starting to drip on his desk and his papers ..