Famed prosecutor, and The Dinner Party Show’s resident legal expert, Marcia Clark drops by to provide Christopher with expert council about his “urgent” legal problem. Another installment of our ongoing PSA series, Best Served Warm, this time featuring Jordan Ampersand.


When the person is pointing a gun in your face, you are not studying the gun. If you're smart, you're studying the face of the person holding the gun, because that's tell you whether you're going to get shot.MARCIA CLARK



The Dinner Party Show Podcast — Ep. 11 (Dessert)Marcia Clark Interview Transcript



{This transcript is the Marcia Clark interview portion of Episode 11}{This transcript is provided as a courtesy and was transcribed as best as possible. Any errors or omissions in the transcript are unintentional. The recorded audio file of the podcast episode is considered the master of what was said.}



Christopher Rice: We were joined earlier by-



Eric Shaw Quinn: During the practical demonstration.



Christopher Rice: ...Ronnie Kroell and Elliot London. They were talking about the Friend movement, which is an anti-bullying campaign, and a multi-fold anti-bullying campaign. But now, as we have been teasing all evening—



Eric Shaw Quinn: It's surprise guest.



Christopher Rice:



... it's surprise guest. I went to push a hotkey and it was all the wrong ones. We have been talking about my very serious legal problem. Very serious. I've been dealing with this issue for weeks now.



Eric Shaw Quinn: Sorry, say that again?



Christopher Rice: Ever since I received something in the mail.



Eric Shaw Quinn: This surprise is Marcia, it’s not…



Christopher Rice: So we've brought in…



Eric Shaw Quinn: ...it’s not yours.



Christopher Rice: ...the legal expert of all legal experts…



Eric Shaw Quinn: Surprise, Marcia.



Christopher Rice: ...our resident legal expert…



Eric Shaw Quinn:



We want free legal consult.



Christopher Rice: ...Marcia Clark is here.



Eric Shaw Quinn: Surprise.



Christopher Rice: Marcia—



Marcia Clark: Hey.



Christopher Rice: ...I have jury duty.



Marcia Clark: Ohhhhh.



Eric Shaw Quinn: Oh.



Christopher Rice: Oh. No.



Marcia Clark: You said it's like the plague.



Christopher Rice: What do I do?



Marcia Clark: What have you done to have jury duty?



Eric Shaw Quinn: Now, that is serious. That is serious.



Marcia Clark: Take two aspirin.



Christopher Rice: Speaking of someone who has some experience with juries, what should I do to get out of jury duty, that's legal and ethical, that doesn't involve just lying?



Marcia Clark: You put all these constraints, now I can't.



Eric Shaw Quinn: Oh, well if you’re gonna be…



Marcia Clark: All these conditions. "Ooh, now we can't lie. Ooh." You'd be the only one. But fine, if you want to be ethical about it, just tell the truth. But that may not work. I mean, if you walk into the courtroom and they say, okay, "We're going to have you on this case where it's an assault with a deadly weapon, and a guy beat up some other guy, and can you be fair?" And if you really can be fair and you say, "Yes," then you're probably going to get stuck there.



Christopher Rice: Right, and that's the thing. And that's where people start to perform, right? They'll be like, "Well, one time I saw a guy get really angry and it upset me. And so this trial I'll be biased, and I have to get back to work." And do lawyers even buy into that, or do they pay attention? They're like, "Okay, just ..." Because we have a friend who worked for the, I believe it was the public defender's office, who said with DUI cases, everybody had had some DUI story that they began vomiting out during voir dire. Is it called voir dire?



Marcia Clark: Yep. Very good.



Christopher Rice: Yeah. And his attitude was like, "All right, just shut up. I won't pick you." But is that an accurate view into the lawyer's head?



Marcia Clark: Yeah. Happens all the time. And you have people,