A coroner was being cross examined by defense counsel. The attorney asked, “Before you signed the death certificate, had you taken the man’s pulse?”

“No,” the coroner replied.

The attorney then asked, “Did you listen for a heart beat?”

The coroner again replied, “No.”

“Did you check for breathing?,” asked the attorney.

Again the coroner replied, “No.”

The attorney then asked, “So, when you signed the death certificate, you had not taken any steps to make sure the man was dead, had you?”

The coroner, who by now had tired of the browbeating replied, “Well, let me put to you this way. The man’s brain was on my desk sitting in a jar, but for all I know, he could be out there practicing law somewhere.”