truTV: Not Reality. Actuality.

Lecherous judges. Drunk defense attorneys. A judge who wanted to make a trophy out of a cop's testicles. Charles Sevilla, author of "Disorder in the Court" and co-author of "Disorderly Conduct" (neither of which is related to the truTV show "Disorder in the Court"), has seen everything in the legal system, from the mundane to the bizarre.

We interviewed the California attorney to get his take on outrageous courtroom antics, as well as his theories about bad behavior on trial.

Q: You've been a lawyer for almost 40 years. What kind of impact have you seen from the increase in new media; cable television, 24-hour news and the Internet?

A: There's an expectation among jurors because of the media that there's going to be something more demonstrative presented for them—a PowerPoint presentation, re-enactments…"CSI" and "Law and Order" have heightened what jurors expect from attorneys and attorneys must be aware of this. Psychologists agree that people are six times more likely to retain information that's both seen and heard, rather than just heard.

Q: Are courtrooms more or less civilized today than they were, say, 50 or 100 years ago?

A: Well, lawyers and judges are by and large civilized, but there are always exceptions. I know that several jurisdictions have passed local laws requiring courteous behavior in the courtroom under pain of monetary penalty. There's an old saying, "In criminal cases, the attorneys act civilly; in civil cases, the attorneys act criminally."

Q: Are there any notable exceptions to that civilized rule? Who are some of the worst-behaved lawyers you've come across?

A: There's this great story of this very tense death penalty case in the late eighties. Well, on the second day of jury selection, the defense attorney gets arrested for a DUI. And bear in mind this is something like eight in the morning. And he's drunk. After the trial, he admitted to being an alcoholic and drinking heavily every morning and evening. And even drinking during recess!

Q: What about on the other side of the bench? Any tales of out-of-control judges?

A: There are two that jump out immediately. The first was this very hotheaded female judge with an extraordinarily short fuse. She was waiting for a late-arriving police officer and just blew her top. She yelled out to her bailiff, "God damn, get that son of a bitch here; find that bastard; I'm not going to start court until that son of a bitch is here; when I find him, I'm going to cut off his balls and have them hang over my bench; I'm going to castrate him; I'm going to give him a .38 caliber vasectomy."

Q: Wow, I wouldn't want to cross her. And the other out-of-control judge?

A: The other is one who had some really poor judgment. Two female attorneys appeared before the judge in his chambers to conduct a preliminary hearing. The judge asked the two women if they knew the difference "between a Caesar salad and a blow job." When the attorneys responded that they didn't, the judge said, "Great, let's have lunch." The judge thought he was being funny, but the commission on judicial performance wasn't laughing. They removed him from the bench.