A dark secret from Judge Elder's past is revealed during the trial. What effect does this have on the court case?

A dark secret from Judge Elder's past is revealed during the trial. What effect does this have on the court case?

It was interesting that it was Quentin's blackmail of Judge Elder that forced him to quit being so biased. I would have liked the Judge to have to recuse himself and then the trial having to be moved elsewhere to get a decent judge. The way it played out was pretty crazy.

It did work, but shouldn’t have made any difference.

The information about Elder's past led him to have a less biased approach in the trial. Very sad that blackmail was necessary to precipitate fairness. Whatever happened to Blind Justice?

He became less biased and the DA was less able to bend the law.

Ultimately I wasn't surprised to learn this - it seemed to me that almost everyone in this novel - male characters at least - had some aspect of their character that could be called into questions. Even the town role models, the "good guys", had something to hide. This is true in the real world, of course. None of us is perfect. It took the revelation of Judge Elder's past to keep the trial on a more even keel and assure us that things would be handled legally - interesting and ironic to say the least!

I wasn't surprised to learn that the Judge had a dark secret - it appeared at least to me that everyone had a secret of some sort as most people in real life.

I thought that he should recuse himself. That it was revealed seemed to take away his bias.

Everybody did seem to have dark secrets but luckily they all didn't have a blackmailer who was the defense attorney.

Who does not have secerts? It gives into the sterotypical image that lawyers are shark by the defense lawyer playing that card. Yes, it non fiction. Regardless, there should be still lines not to cross.

This happens in the real world as well. Judges who should recuse themselves do not. Judges bring their own biases into the courtroom. But in this instance in a criminal trial, Quentin did what he had to do to defend his client - exploit the secret. People forget that a defendant is PRESUMED INNOCENT until guilt is established BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT! That is what a criminal defense attorney must do - create reasonable doubt.