Kayfabe in the Courtroom

 "Kayfabe" is an old carny word referring to the code of silence around the tricks of the trade--you never let a mark (customer) know the game is rigged.

Professional Wrestlers adopted the phrase and, until the mid-eighties at least, it was verbotten for a rassler to admit in public that the action in the ring was essentially fake.  Reality might occasionally slip into the squared circle (as "Stampede Wrestling announcer Ed Waylon used to call it), but real wrestling is boring, so fantasy reigns.

Most wrestling fans know the game is rigged, but they are addicted nonetheless.  It's like watching a horror film: you know the mayhem on the screen isn't real, that the guy with the bloody knife is probably a nice enough chap in real life, but when he emerges from the shadows you gasp anyway. 

Most jurors attending criminal trials in Texas know the game is rigged.  The court appointed defense attorney is generally what wrestlers call a "Jobber", a guy who is paid good money (though not a lot of it) to lose.  The less effort the guy puts into defending his client, the better the "Jobber's" bottom line at the end of the day. 

Jurors pretend they are watching a fair fight.  Having been seduced by media they know who to cheer for and who is supposed to win.  They do not see their rights are tied to the rights that of the defendant. The live in denial of the fact that they may be the next defendant.