What She Got Isn’t What We Thought In This Courtroom Story

San Diego attorney Charles Sevilla, who writes a “Great Moments in Courtroom History” column for legal publications, recently recounted this trial excerpt:

Witness: “She was fondling me, you know. We were playing, you know. We were goofing around. She was fondling me and it took her a little while, but she found it.”

Judge: “Would you clarify that, please?”

Attorney: “Found what?”

Witness: “Found the wallet.”

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THAT’S NO SPICY MEATBALL! Incidentally, in “The Triggerman’s Dance,” author T. Jefferson Parker cites a disturbing dining trend that I’ve noticed. When FBI agent Sharon Dumars and Orange County Journal columnist Susan Baum stop to dine in a Laguna Beach restaurant, Baum says:

“Strange how all these new Italian places refuse to make spaghetti and meatballs.”

I think these places are full of baloney.

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WHAT’S IN A NAME: Yes, the Orange County Journal is a fictional newspaper. Lately, don’t know why, I’ve been thinking of the newspaper in the 1970s TV show, “Lou Grant.” That one was called the Los Angeles Tribune.

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L.A. vs. O.C.: In the eternal Southern California rivalry, some Angelenos may take pride in the fact that the Thomas Guide people put out an edition titled “Los Angeles and Orange Counties” (see photos).

After all, L.A. has top billing.

What the Angelenos might not know is that south of the Orange Curtain, the Irvine-based Thomas Guide publishes an edition titled, “Orange and Los Angeles Counties.”

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SLICE OF LIFE: My colleague Bob Pool spotted a clean-cut guy, smartly dressed for the links, a golf bag at his side, hitchhiking on Pacific Coast Highway.

As Pool said: “He was clearly looking for a driver.”

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at [email protected].