New Bern, NC
I’ve never been forced to appear in court before; never served on a jury. Here in New Bern there are District Courts, Supreme Courts, and Federal Courts all within two blocks. Therefore I plan to witness some trials just out of curiosity. Today (11/29), I visited the District Criminal Court; lowest of the three.
I got there at the appointed time, 0900. There weren’t many people there at first. As I waited, I tried to figure out who was who and what their roles were. At first there were only three sheriff’s bailiffs and a very young, very green looking lawyer sitting stiffly on the side. Behind the bar were about 70 people. The people in appearance and dress looked perfectly typical, neither rich nor poor.
Two men dressed casually, sitting at a side table with tall stacks of manila folders in front of them. I decided that they must be the police. Later they were joined by a state trooper, so that confirmed that they were police.
The first thing to happen was that a bailiff called for those requesting a court appointed attorney. About 6 people came forward. Next, the bailiff called for all those requesting a continuance should form a line on the right. About half the people (i.e. 35) got in line. It took two bailiffs 20 minutes to locate their names in the docket and to write a list of case numbers requesting continuances. During that 20 minutes new people continued to enter the court room. Almost all of them got in the line. Unless they were experienced in this courtroom, they had no way to know this was the continuance line. I wonder how many of them got continuances that didn’t want it.
People continued to stream into the court until 09:45. I was shocked. How could people dare to be late for their own trials? Maybe they were experienced enough to know that it didn’t matter.
Around 9:30 an attractive girl came out from the “Private” door. She made sure that the proper heaps of paper were in the proper places. Later another attractive girl came out. She must have been the clerk. She sat beside the Judge. I think her job was to record everything that transpired and to keep the paperwork straight. A third girl appeared; also very nice. I figured out that the court’s staff was populated by young attractive, well built women.
A lady appeared and stood at the prosecutor’s table. I could tell, because on that table were three big files, with I presume, the case files for 100% of the cases on today’s docket.
A few lawyers appeared. I could tell because they had suits and ties. Some hung around the court room, but most of them headed directly for the “Private” door. I think they went back there to review the cases with the judge in advance.
It was laughably easy to rank the lawyers according to the quality of their suits, ties and grooming. They ranged from baronial to scruffy. I’m almost certain that I could rank the 20 or so lawyers I saw that day by appearance only, and achieve 90% accuracy.
The best looking lawyer turned out to be the best. Let me call him Esquire. Before the judge came out, Esquire emerged from the “Private” door and plunked down a stack of about 20 folders on the prosecutor’s table. Then he called the 20 defendants, one by one, whispered something to each, handed a sheet of paper to the prosecutor, and then sent the defendants out of the room. I figure those were the ones whose cases were dismissed. Later when the judge came in, Esquire’s remaining cases where disposed of quickly and painlessly for the defendants. If I ever get in trouble in New Bern, I’m going to hire Esquire as my lawyer.
Then it came time to rise as the judge came in. The judge was surprisingly young and handsome. I almost laughed out loud as the bailiff said, “here’s Judge Pauuuuuuuuuuuuuuul xxx. He did it like Ed McMahon used to say heeeeeeeeeeeeer’s Johnny [Carson]. I don’t think you’re allowed to laugh out loud in court.
Finally things started to happen. It was about 10:10 by now.
- First we had all those requesting a court appointed attorney. The judge named appointments and the clerk gave them new court dates.
- Next came continuances. The prosecutor called them forward one by one. I was bewildered to see that some of them came forward, and then walked out the back door with hardly a pause. Others had to stop at the clerk’s desk, put their hand on a book on the shelf, raise their right hand and swear to something. Then they were allowed to go. I have no idea what distinguished those two groups.
- Next came defendants represented by lawyers; Mr. Esquire’s first. These cases, about 30 of them, were disposed of rapidly. Most had to pay court costs (about $200), restitution if applicable, and were given suspended sentences of 30 days plus 3 years unsupervised probation. It was amazing how quickly those judgments were rendered. So fast, that the judge did not have the time to read even a single sentence on the papers in front of him. Still, his remarks seemed to be spot on each time. I concluded that the judge and the lawyers had done all their homework before entering the court. The judge was well familiar with each case and had an outcome in mind. Therefore, rattling off the sentence in open court was a mere formality.
- Next the prosecutor called for “those not represented by attorney and pleading guilty.” There formed a line of about 30 more people. These cases also went quickly, but slightly slower than those with lawyers. Despite the speed, the judge seemed to be right on top of each case. Either he had studied them in advance, or he had crib notes in front of him, or he was simply handing out sentences based on the charge and the appearance of the defendants. In most of the cases, the defendant hardly got to speak a single word.
About this time, I figured out the special nature of today’s sessions. Those two men that I thought were police were actually from Walmart security. From time to time, the judge asked a question about the facts of the case and these men responded. They had photographic and/or video evidence in front of them for each case. I heard no cases from Target, or any other store, so I figure that today’s session was specially arranged to dispose of all the pending Walmart cases. If they didn’t do it that way, the Walmart security men would need to be in court every day. Also from time to time, the judge asked the prosecutor about prior offenses. The prosecutor had an answer about 50% of the time, and didn’t know the other 50%. In those cases, the judge asked the defendant.
Most of these people got off with court costs, plus restitution. However, there were two doors for them to exit the court. The door on the left was for those who could pay up immediately and leave. The door on the right was for those who couldn’t pay or who were sentenced to jail or probation. The one exception came in a woman’s case. The Walmart man said that she stole things like hair trimmers, and that this was the 5th time she had been caught. “45 days” was her sentence, handed down by the judge without hesitation.
All this time, there was almost zero accusations, nor protests of innocence heard. No prosecution, no defense. It seemed that any case that could not be disposed of in a few seconds was continued. I heard the judge say several times that there were so many cases on today’s docket that anything of substance would have to wait for another day. I guess that if I returned some other day it may be very different wish a smaller number of more substantial cases, where I could hear the actual accusations and the actual defense. Not today.
Now it was around 1110 and the courtroom was mostly empty of defendants. A whole bunch more lawyers began to appear. I don’t know of those lawyers just knew which time to appear, or whether someone gave them a signal.
The door to the side opened and prisoners dressed in orange jumpsuits filed in. There were about three batches of 7 inmates each. All these cases were boring. They simply arranged for counsel for these people whose trails were scheduled for later dates.
The course broke for lunch around 1300. I didn’t return. I think I understand how that process works. Now for some more general observations:
The acoustics of the court room were excellent. A dozen or more subdued conversations could (and did) be held simultaneously without the voices carrying very far. That’s perfect, because everywhere there were lawyers, and defendants, and clerks and bailiffs all doing business at the same time. On the down side, I had great difficulty hearing what the judge, and lawyers said to each other when cases were actually heard. Next time, I’ll be sure to bring two hearing aids and to turn them up full blast.
As citizens, we know how little it takes to get appointed or elected judge in this country. I was a bit taken aback at this judge’s youthful appearance (and by the fact that he seemed to be chewing something). But at the end, I am very impressed at how he was master of that courtroom, in substance as well as style. He appeared to be well briefed on everything before him, he handed out sentences without hesitation, yet he never appeared to be rushing anyone. In those few cases where the facts seemed obscure or evidence lacking, he deferred judgment to another day. I was very impressed. By whatever combination of long experience or hard work I don’t know, but this man was expert at his job. I don’t think any defendant or lawyer, or other party left that room today feeling slighted.
The amount of paper shuffling was appalling. The only computer screen visible belonged to the clerk, but I don’t think it was turned on because she never looked at it. Every lawyer, when he was not talking was sitting there furiously writing and writing. Some things they write on the manila folder, some are annotations on the printed documents, and some are jottings on those famous yellow pads. Each case had an envelope. Both prosecutors and attorneys pawed those envelopes and took things out and stuffed things in. Most amazing was the clerk. Everybody else in the room kept laying piles of papers on her counter. She just made them disappear, with hardly ever a question to anyone.
As a guess, I expect that 95% of the time, papers are handled correctly. Even so, on a day with 200 cases, that means 10 or more are mishandled with unknown consequences. It must cost a fortune for all the skilled handling of this paperwork, but more important I do not believe that the quality control achievable by these methods could be acceptable in the 21st century. Having said that, I tip my hat to the expeditious and skilful way all those papers were handled in court today. It appeared that everyone involved (except that green young lawyer by the wall) knew very well how the papers should be handled and they just did it.
If a court like this was to be automated to 21st century standards it would work much better. However, that type of software takes a long time to debug and refine. Digitization would cause one or two decades of worse performance before it got better. Also, it would be wasteful and inefficient to do it at a local court, or even a state level. We need a national, or even a global, approach to workflow handling of justice cases so that everyone gains from the refinements. But huge software projects on a national scale also have a dismal track record. Very often they fail, and are cancelled. I sympathize with the judges and lawyers who fear automation and want to hold it back as long as possible. Their fears are well founded. On the other hand, I don’t believe their costs and their quality levels are sustainable in the 21st century. They have a genuine dilemma on their hands.
Later in the year, I’ll make visits to other kinds of court and write them up.
p.s. The young green stiff lawyer disappeared sometime before the judge came in. I didn't see him speak with anyone.
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