Yosha Gunasekera stood in front of a judge and jury in a Manhattan courtroom, working one of her first trials as a public defender in the New York criminal justice system. She had carefully prepared her cross-examination for this witness. She felt ready. As a public defender, she knew that presentation mattered — that the jurors needed to see her as confident and capable. Her client’s fate depended on it.
And then the judge interrupted her.
