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Lawyer Abraham Isserman tried the goad. "When your honor interrupted me to misconstrue—" he began, but that was as far as Lawyer Isserman got. Said Medina in a level voice: "That is an impertinent statement ... If you keep this up ... there will be a day of reckoning. Perhaps this is an effort to wear me out.* That is not the proper conduct of an attorney. It may wind up by breaking me down, though I hope it doesn't. I tell you now—stop it! . . .If you persist you must take the consequences."
Lawyer Louis McCabe arose. Medina turned on him. "Oh," said the judge, "now it's your turn to go after me, is it? ... Some day, somebody will read the record of this case and they'll see just how many times this sort of thing has gone on, and somebody may be brought to judgment."
Lawyer George Crockett Jr. was on his feet. Exclaimed Medina: "So we're going to have each one of you take a crack at me. Now you see your chance to follow up with a little more harassment." Crockett started to protest. Medina shut him up. An exasperated Justice had had a little more than it could bear. Waving his hands and saying "Woosh," Medina dismissed Witness Marcantonio and adjourned court for the weekend.
* Judge Edward C. Eicher, faced by 30 defendants and some 20 long-winded lawyers, died on 102nd day of the 1944 sedition trial in Washington, D.C., thus ending the action. All indictments have since been dismissed.