<p>Yesterday, Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued a curious evidentiary decision. In the fraud trial of several aides to Bernie Madoff, the judge ruled that prosecutors will have to Photoshop out a decoration from pictures of Madoff's office. Lawyers for Daniel Bonventre argued that photos of the decoration, a four-foot statue of a screw, would be unduly prejudicial.</p><p>A Ponzi scheme operator flaunting a statue of a giant screw sounds a lot more probative than prejudicial, actually.</p><p>In any event, the art is not coming into evidence and is coming out of any pictures of the office. There may not have been a good reason to introduce the piece into evidence, but introducing Photoshop to the legal process creates a whole new wrinkle in the fabric of the "reality" put in front of juries.</p><p>The sculpture in question is "The Soft Screw" by Claes Oldenburg. According to reports, Bernie used to love this thing so much he would personally dust it. If that's not enough to suggest that Madoff had more than a passing fascination with the piece, remember this thing is four feet tall and he put it on his desk. When a knick-knack looms over the office like Shaq, it might not be something we can just ignore as tangential.</p><p><a href="http://abovethelaw.com/2013/09/bernie-madoffs-giant-screw-is-photoshop-a-proper-rule-403-remedy/">Keep reading...</a></p>