Prosecutorial experience gives her an edge — but not how you might think, writes legal columnist Elie Honig.
There’s a common misperception about who prosecutors are and what they do. I’m loath to reveal this because, as a former prosecutor myself, it generally works to my advantage. But I’ll pop the balloon.
Contrary to what we’ve all seen in movies and on TV, prosecutors are not, in fact, swashbuckling, badass courtroom gunslingers. Real criminal cases aren’t won with Sleepers-style surprise witnesses, or A Few Good Men–style cross-examination beatdowns, or The Brady Bunch–style spontaneous courtroom demonstrations. In the real world, prosecutors aim to play it straight, drama free, and, if necessary, boring.
In this election season, Vice-President Kamala Harris is relying on her prosecutorial chops — but not how pop culture would condition us to expect. She’s not courting explosive confrontation or looking for mic-drop moments. She’s sticking to primary themes, she’s controlling her own environment, and she’s minimizing risk. Some Democrats desperately want to cast Harris as some striding superhero, but she’s a prosecutorial pragmatist at heart.
Quick story: The night before I gave my first-ever jury address, I asked my supervisor a question that, in retrospect, is cringeworthy: “What exactly am I supposed to be tomorrow? When I stand in front of the jury, how am I supposed to act?” My supervisor managed not to laugh and told me, in essence, this: “Your only job is to be clear and credible. Forget about the emoting and the dramatics. Leave that crap for the defense lawyer. You just put on your case.” Of course, that doesn’t mean a prosecutor must be robotic or boring.
