court observation
Court Observation
October 30, 2012
On September 27th I went to Branch 6 to watch the criminal trial of the defendant Lord Wilson. It was making out to be a weeklong trial and I made it on the second to last day. All I knew was that it was a case involving drugs and had been in the making for a while. When I arrived at the public safety building to listen to the criminal trial taking place I learned firsthand that things never seem to stay on schedule. A recess was taking place when I walked in. While I was sitting there I overheard another person in the courthouse talking about how they heard testimonies from witnesses the day before. That’s what I was looking forward to and now I was worried that I wouldn’t get to observe anything too interesting. During the recess I had some time to take in what was going on around me. The judge was not in the court room. I assumed he was probably in his chambers going over information from the trial that called for the recess to begin with. The prosecutor and the defense attorney were both present in the courtroom, occasionally talking to one another while they waited for the judge to return. The defendant was in the room as well, sitting next to his lawyer waiting for things to resume. There were also a few police officers sitting behind me and from what I could tell at least one was involved in the case against the defendant. While I was sitting there Thomas Gerleman, the defense attorney came over and told me who the people involved in trying the case were. The judge who presided over this court room was Daniel Bissett and the District attorney was Christian Gosset. The A.D.A was Eric Sparr, which another student informed me he was a “drug expert” and had a lot of experience dealing with cases involving the delivering and manufacturing of drugs. Knowing who everyone was made it a little easier to follow what was going on.
While I was sitting there I did feel kind of uneasy. Everyone in the room would occasionally
October 30, 2012
On September 27th I went to Branch 6 to watch the criminal trial of the defendant Lord Wilson. It was making out to be a weeklong trial and I made it on the second to last day. All I knew was that it was a case involving drugs and had been in the making for a while. When I arrived at the public safety building to listen to the criminal trial taking place I learned firsthand that things never seem to stay on schedule. A recess was taking place when I walked in. While I was sitting there I overheard another person in the courthouse talking about how they heard testimonies from witnesses the day before. That’s what I was looking forward to and now I was worried that I wouldn’t get to observe anything too interesting. During the recess I had some time to take in what was going on around me. The judge was not in the court room. I assumed he was probably in his chambers going over information from the trial that called for the recess to begin with. The prosecutor and the defense attorney were both present in the courtroom, occasionally talking to one another while they waited for the judge to return. The defendant was in the room as well, sitting next to his lawyer waiting for things to resume. There were also a few police officers sitting behind me and from what I could tell at least one was involved in the case against the defendant. While I was sitting there Thomas Gerleman, the defense attorney came over and told me who the people involved in trying the case were. The judge who presided over this court room was Daniel Bissett and the District attorney was Christian Gosset. The A.D.A was Eric Sparr, which another student informed me he was a “drug expert” and had a lot of experience dealing with cases involving the delivering and manufacturing of drugs. Knowing who everyone was made it a little easier to follow what was going on.
While I was sitting there I did feel kind of uneasy. Everyone in the room would occasionally