A Day of Observation in Judicial Court- Part 3: A New Day in Court

Judge Case then moved on to cases not involving inmates. One man who waited outside the courtroom with us was called to the stand and informed that a warrant was out for his arrest. Judge Case instructed the officers to take him into custody for violating probation by failing a drug test.

Throughout the public defense trial, people in the seats were moving around, whispering, and having conversations. There were times when the defense and prosecution would walk to each other’s desks to converse about case details while the defendant answered Judge Case’s questions at the stand. The exchange of relevant information is necessary during a pretrial session, but it was much louder than I expected. The noise from the seats continued to grow until

He was handcuffed at the stand and transported out the same side door used for inmates. Judge Case set his bail to $5,000. The man’s defense attorney spoke to his girlfriend, who attended court with him, and provided instructions on retrieving him and paying bail. Chris noted that a security guard was stationed at the back of the seats in case the man attempted to leave before they could arrest him. 

Judge Case demanded silence, claiming she couldn’t hear. “This can’t be normal,” I whispered to

Chris, who reiterated that this is a common occurrence. He shared that at times, when Amanda was at the stand, he couldn’t hear her speak. There are times when noise in the seats is useful, mostly when attorneys relay confidential information to the judge. When this occurs, static sounds from speakers in the ceiling prevent the information from being heard and leaking to the public.