Shepard shows sense of humor in video

Who knew the former chief justice of Indiana could play dumb so well?

At the dinner last night in Randall T. Shepard’s honor, during remarks from Indiana Court of Appeals Chief Judge Margret Robb, a video was shown to reflect how technology has changed since Shepard became chief justice. One thought it would focus on computers and the Internet, as the intro explained “Uncovered from the state archive, this footage depicts the first help desk professional seen at work.” But instead, it featured Shepard and State Court Administration Chief Deputy Executive Director Dave Remondini in monk robes, with Remondini trying to explain to Shepard how books work by candlelight.

Shepard, playing “dumb” quite well, just couldn’t figure out how to continuing reading once the text ended on a page. He was used to scrolls and having to turn pages was new to him. But Remondini, always patient, explained to the former chief justice several times how the text would be there, even after he turned the page and closed the book.

The video was a hit. The audience laughed often at the site of the longest-serving state chief justice not understanding how books work.

The video may have been familiar to some people; it’s been on YouTube since September 2008 and has more than 15,000 hits. It’s a remake of a Norwegian video and was created for a judicial conference to use during a discussion of new court technologies.