I just spent 2 days in court... and with such a boffo opening, I can now disclose that it was just as spectator. Erin is on a Mock Trial team, thru the homeschool cooperative to which we. Mock Trial is a competition in which students make fun of the trial process. heh heh. actually, they compete seriously, doing an entire trial, coached by actual lawyers, who do this gratis, pro bono, to show the nice side of lawyers. yesterday the team went to Ayer District Court to watch a real trial. my only courtroom experience is Cambridge Superiour Court, which is a mite larger. some 12 kids attended, plus a collecion of parents. had to empty pockets and pass thru a metal detector. I had Brandon Downing's book Dark Brandon, which passed inspection. the courtroom was a 2ndary one, small, about the size of a large classroom. it seemed like a nothing trial, operating under the influence but it was fun watching the preliminaries before the jury was selected. when the jury pool filed in, us spectator had to abandon our seats, because there was just enough room for the prospective jurors. a selection of jurors was made, winnowed, and confirmed. one person was called up and immediately called away, as if the lawyer saw an unsightly mole or something (each side can excuse two jurors without any explanation). is this civics lesson necessary? but it was fun!!! so quit interupting. and then the trial motored into action... in low gear... with papers shuffling. using my keen bias, I was pretty certain that the defendant was guilty. he just looked it. we heard from the arresting officer, and the sergenat who helped. we had to leave before the session finished. the court officer, when the jury was taking a break, talked with us. with real excitement he said, this looks like a good case, both lawyers are really good. and it was true. both were youngish, in their 30s. the asst DA was somewhat stiff, lacked the dash that the defense attorny had. the defense guy, in introducing himself to the jury added after giving his name: with offices in... the case was that a cop driving along at night saw a car coming at him in the wrong lane. he swerved (said he), turned around, observed the car weave, pulled the car over. he smelled alcohol, discovered open cans of Bud Lite, found the perp unsteady, so took the guy in. arrested him for drinking weasel piss. at the station he adminstered a breathalyser. the reading was .29, well over the .08 limit. what the jury was not allowed to know: the perp has had 3 priors. the arresting officer was a trim young fellow, still had the sturdy cop posture. his sergeant a little more battleworn, but still seemed positive about the job. alas we left in mid story. Erin was enthused by the case so we went back for the conclusion. we missed the state's expert witness, came in for the defense's. this was a woman who gave chapter and verse why the machine used isn't likely to be accurate, and the testing methods were terrible. she was like an overly wound up science teacher, and tho she certainly drove some nails into the coffin of the case, she could also have bored jurors. it turns out she's a lawyer as well as a scientific expert. she probably won the case. the perp admitted to having an open can of Bud Lite in his car. if the jury knew that he'd been convicted three times before, that detail might've carried more weight. were he to have been convicted in this instance, he faced a mandatory 2 year imprisionment. which is why he had the no doubt expensive lawyer and the expert witness. alas we again had to leave before the jury deliberated. we saw the summations. before the jury came back for that, the lawyers joked with each other. we talked with the cops a bit in the hallway. 2 days wasted for them, sitting in court. when they entered the courtoom, the defense lawyer welcomed them then and said, now I have someone I can point to. which indeed he did, pointing at them as he sliced and diced. the young officer looked ticked, the older one used to it. the defense made a sad story about going 1st, but he went down the list of places where doubt could settle. the ADA wasn't quite as sharp or as charismatic. he had a way of talking: as he gatherd his words he'd raise his right hand to his ear, and when the words came out, the hand went forward, as if pulling the words out. on this 2nd day, we were the only spectators, aside from the perp's wife. which made for a nice intimacy. when the summations ended, the court officer came over to inform us that we couldn't leave the courtroom once the judge began giving the jury its instructions. we had appointments, so we dashed out then. the court officer happily talked with us about the case and about the court room. we can call the court to find out who won, but likely the perp got away. as we left the building we noticed tv camera crews. we asked one of them wuffo. they were there to document the arraignment of a 6th grade teacher in a nice suburb who was arrested for heroin possession. Reznikof made hay with this stuff...