>> I have dealt with a handful of truly evil people.
And I'm glad to say that it's a rare exception to deal with the evil versus just the dumb.
Most of the time you're dealing with dumb.
The law is never black or white.
This court house was built not only concepts of whether black or white
but on a myriad of gray issues that come about.
Not everything fits into that square hole, you know.
Not everything fits in that circle, not ever-- yeah, fits in the peg.
And so that's why you have litigation, that's why you have lawyers,
that's why you have court houses, that's why you have judges.
So, you get the law, you look at the law, and if it's squarely on point,
then under our system of justice.
I really don't have that discretion to say, "Well, I don't personally like this law."
You know, I'm bound by the laws so I follow the law.
But if it's not on-- if it's not that square, it's not that round, you had to look at the law
and then you have to look at the facts and try to make a determination is what is the--
what makes the most sense, what is the fairest disposition of this case.
And when I say fair, I mean fair based on the facts in the law.
It may-- I may have a very sympathetic part in which I feel personally very sympathetic
for their condition or plot, but the law and the facts simply do not allow me to say
that I want this result for a person.
I may want you to win.
I may-- you'd be cheering for the jury to give you that party [phonetic] but at the end
of the day if it's not supported by the facts or law,
that's where you have to just say, you lose.
Then you have to make that determination.
>> Have you ever felt threatened?
Has your life ever been threatened?
Is that a part of it?
I know in here you have the police officer security.
>> You know, I've-- I know of two threats, three threats when I was a prosecutor,
that were probably valid, that there was some sense of concern.
But I'll tell-- and as a judge I really--
it's never been brought to my attention of any threat.
And being a prosecutor for 13 years, a judge about eight years, one of the things, you know,
as a prosecutor, people get mad at you because you want to send to jail or whatever,
or you want to send their family member to jail.