In stark contrast to the glowing reviews enjoyed by Attorney Richard C. Milstein (see here), most observers have been less than impressed with Judge Larry Seidlin. The following excerpts from Florida Judge in Anna Nicole Smith Case Is Vilified as ‘Weepy Wacko’ sum up the national consensus:
From the state that brought you the hanging chad, now comes the crying judge.
Some members of the bar and other court-watchers are cringing over the way Judge Larry Seidlin wept — no, sobbed — on live, national TV as he announced a ruling Thursday in the dispute over where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried.
Some are accusing the brash former New York cab driver of showboating for the cameras, or worse, auditioning for his own courtroom TV show, with his one-liners, his personal asides and his smart-alecky Bronx delivery during the six-day hearing.
They say that he let the hearing drag on way too long, that he made inappropriate jokes for a dispute over a body, that he acted as if it were all about him.
"He’s like Judge Judy’s wacky little brother," legal analyst Jefrey Toobin quipped on CNN.
The New York Post called him a "Weepy Wacko," while the The New York Daily News asked, "How Low Can This Judge Go?" and referred to him as "Blubbering Seidlin." One of Miami’s most celebrated defense attorneys, Roy Black, said of the circus-like scene in Seidlin’s courtroom: "I sort of think it gives circuses a bad name."