A Day In Court

prof Brian D. Heffner 7 December 2012 A Day In Criminal flirt This week I had the opportunity to sit In on malefactor court proceedings. I chose to visit the Oakland County Court House for the mean solar day and discover quite a few things through out the whole experience. I own been to a few courts In the past, criminal, traffic, and family, yet n ever so In the Oakland County bulldlng. on that point were m either details of the proceedings, the Image, and raze the condltlons of e precisething from the bulldlng Itself to the people Involved that I found specially Interesting.The first thing I hought when I entered the bulldlng was that It was non crowded. In previous vlslts to troy courts the place was packed, let alone confusing. This courthouse was different. The hallways were very modern and clean and it felt fresh to me, not dark and gloomful handle it could sacrifice been. (l guess I have to also image that I didn t have all charges against me so I wasn? t enteri ng the building expecting to hate being in that respect) I was surprised by the security measures. It seemed as if it was too easy to get through. I anticipate to have three or four metal detectors lined up for a big crowd, but there was only one.Right away I got the sense that the size of the building was not reflective of the amount of cases per day it accommodates. After blab outing with one of the guards I was referred to the criminal court style rather than the family court, due to what he called a more interesting day.? . The motor inn itself I perspective was way too small. There were only ii and a half rows for people to sit and watch, forcing many people to have to wait outside. That I thought was not a well thought out design. There is tons of extra hallway space that they could have stretched the style out to make it bigger so you wouldnt run into those kinds of problems.The room also had extravagant fixtures hang from the ceiling. I dont really understand the t endency of them, they may even have been lights, but they nevertheless looked analogous a waste of notes. I dont think they serve any other campaign than to look pretty, and if thats the case, they could have spent the money on the room extension. Thats Just my opinion of the building another thing that struck me was the people involved. As I looked around the court room, I saw attorneys, citizens, guards, and of course the Judge. The Judge, I was informed, was the night Judge filling In for someone.I was warned by my buddy, the guard, that he would be sluggish, but I thought It flowed nicely. I must first speak of the attorneys because they fazed me the most. These lawyers were slobs I realize that you may not make a whole lot of money being a public defender, but you could at least dress appropriately. One of these lawyers had his whole hem hanging out with string following him everywhere. This guys pants were wrinkled and his hair entirely void of any type of brushing. I w ould never hire any one that looked Ilke that. and I would be scared If I had him assigned to me.Another lawyer, a woman this time, was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. Before she even came in the wanted a new lawyer because she was as dizzy. When she walked in I realized they had made a coarse understatement. This woman had the most disgusting mess of hair on merry-go-round of her head and she kept scratching it. It was like a huge crimped, teased, problematic mess. I couldnt believe that she would walk into a courtroom like that. Oh my beau subjectl she was a mess I dont understand how she could represent anyone looking like that. There was only one professional looking lawyer and he was the prosecutor.Everyone else looked third rate compared to him. The other group of people I looked at was the criminals. There was definitely a mixed group of people there. There was one lady in her 40s that was wearing a long skin coat and all the Jewelry in the world, and you co uld Just tell she was humiliated to be there. Her husband wouldnt even sit in the courtroom with her. I really would have loved to know what she did wrong, but with all the judicature conversation you never got to hear her crime, Just her dismissal. Another guy that had charges against him wasnt even allowed in the courtroom ecause he didnt have the right shoes.I thought that was tout ensemble unfair. He was outside the courtroom explaining that he didnt have any money to buy good shoes for the day, but they still wouldnt let him in. I guess all this stuff has been pretty superficial, but what really twoered me was how all(prenominal) of the cases was handled. I always thought that the public could view any courtroom proceeding, but I felt extremely short changed. In fact I think it was unfair to the criminals as well. It seemed like every case was decided at the bench before even formula what the charges were.I know I sat through three hours of court and left hand only knowi ng what two of the cases was really about. When the incarcerated people were brought out it looked like they were clueless as to what was going on, because they couldnt hear any of it. They looked shocked sometimes when hearing the determinations as if they didnt know what was happening to them. I know that I was shocked when I heard some of the verdicts because I had no idea what the crime was For the most part they Just announced codes not allowing the commonplace person to understand a thing theyre talking about.After every decision the lawyer had to break it down to their own words to the leaf nodes. That annoyed me so much. I was also disgusted with one case in particular where they actually did describe the crime. A man and a woman had both committed armed robbery and in the process hospitalized two victims. Their lawyer had the nerve to ask for $1000 bail for the two of them, pointing out the families of each of the criminals in the courtroom, explaining that they both had newborns to take care of. This lawyer had a 6 year old child in the courtroom to hear his induce receive a $50, 000 bail. I Just think that was wrong.The lawyer knew there was no way in the world he was getting his client off, the guy had a rap sheet longer than the Bible from 4 different states, but he chose to put that kid through that. I dont get that. I guess overall my court experience was a pretty good learning experience. I learned to appreciate my lawyer a 100 times more Just for his wardrobe alone. I learned that you always need appropriate shoes even if your habilitate are as crappy as ever. I learned that the metropolis of Oakland County prefers style to space accommodations, and most importantly I learned that is cheaper to adjust the law than to break it.