Court Observations

Court Observation

My court case observation was interesting, to say the least. I walked into the DeKalb county courthouse, in Auburn, Indiana, not knowing where to go, what to say or do, or even how to dress. By the time I left, I had learned far more than I planned on, and not just through observing . . . I sat in on three trials: two civil cases and one criminal case. Afterwards, I had the unique opportunity to talk with the judge and county bailiff for about half of an hour. The first case I observed was finishing up as I came in. Quietly seating myself in the back of the room, I noticed that there weren’t very many people occupying the space. Only five other people were in the room that I thought would be bigger than it was (as seen on television). The criminal case, from what I could catch of it, was a concerning action of today’s society: a neighbor hacked into the other’s Wi-Fi network and stole bank account information. Because the details weren’t talked about often, I wasn’t able to understand exactly what happened, but by the judge’s tone of voice, I could tell he was very disappointed in the defendant. The courtroom, like I previously stated, was occupied with five people other than myself. Judge Kevin Wallace sat in a large podium at the front of the room, while the court reporter was stationed perpendicular in front of him. To Judge Wallace’s front left was whom I assume the plaintiff, with no attorney present. To the right, the defendant, again with no support. One observer joined me in the pews. I happened to notice twelve chairs on the edge of the room, which I later found out were for the jury duty, which was not present at this case. The case ended with the defendant and plaintiff silently walking out after the judge found a mistake in the wording of a document. He said the case could not continue until the confusion was cleared up, and with that, everyone left. The second case I observed was a small claims case. I walked into Superior Court II to find three people other than myself occupying the room. Judge Monte Brown was seated in the podium at the front of the even-smaller room than before. A lady was standing just outside of the podium speaking with Judge Brown. Dressed very casually, she leaned against the podium like she had done it a hundred times. The third man in the room was the county bailiff, named Tim. I again seated myself quietly in the back of the room while the lady and Judge Brown discussed the reason she was there: her tenant failed to pay the housing rent for many consecutive months. No defendant was present. Ending the case with a handshake and a set amount of money to be won, the lady excused herself from the room while the next hearing was set to begin. Another civil case, filed for illegally downloading music, had the same set up. No attorney present, and no defendant. This is something I learned during my observation; not every case has to be set with an entire committee of people. Defendants and plaintiffs are able to represent themselves, and court can run just as smoothly with just the plaintiff and not a defendant present. One additional thing I discovered was that there is a limit to how much you can sue for: nothing over $6,000 in Indiana. While it’s different in every state, the amount fluctuates by, in my opinion, the value of the dollar in each state. There is also a time limit by how far past the damages occurred that you can sue for. Indiana, for a personal injury case, the amount has to be sued for within two years of the accident. For property damages or through an oral contract, the wait is six years. Finally, breaking a written contract leaves 10 years to file a claim.
The last case I was able to be present for was a complaint about car damages that happened by accident. It’s common to be fearful that the person you parked next to is going to open their car door into yours, and for the man, that’s exactly what happened. Again with no defendant present, the plaintiff shared his story about extreme car damages that happened about a month and a half prior. Another thing I learned through this case was that court happens pretty quickly after the claim is filed. While I’m not sure if it was just because the courthouse wasn’t as busy, or if it’s because that just how fast it happens, a month and a half was not very long of a wait, in my opinion. I wasn’t able to experience any plea bargains or even see someone sentenced to jail, but found out how small claims cases work. When I was preparing to leave the courtroom after the last case was finished, the county bailiff approached me and asked my name. He then proceeded to ask me the reason I was at the courthouse, and I answered that it was a class assignment that I’d have to write a report on later. He thought for a moment, and then asked me to follow him up to Judge Brown’s podium. Nervous, I introduced myself to Judge Brown while he joked that he was going to try to convince me to stay out of the criminal justice field! He began to share his story of how he was able to get into the criminal justice field, and how grateful he was for the support of his coworkers. The county bailiff, Tim, was the county probation officer for over 30 years and stated that his past military experience was great help in the officer position. Tim also informed me of openings at the DeKalb County courthouse that would be available soon, and encouraged me to come back next summer for an internship. I learned while speaking to the judge and Tim that they hear about 50 cases everyday. It blew my mind! I had no idea there were that many court cases, even within a week! Tim invited me to come back Thursday, July 25 to help him call the next cases and be able to sit in a jury duty chair. I think talking to Judge Brown and Tim made me realize that not everyone in the criminal justice field is big, bad, or out to scare everyone. Though my major is Management, I might keep my mind open to other things. I’ve always wondered about how court works, so choosing this option was definitely best for me. Everyone I told about going to observe a court case said it would be the most boring thing, but I actually thought it was quite interesting to learn about. I walked in the courthouse with pretty nice dress clothes on, but noticed that everyone else there, even the defendants and plaintiffs, wore casual clothes and didn’t act too professionally. I plan on taking up Tim’s offer of helping him in the coming week, so I hope to learn more than I did this past time. Through this experience, I learned more about the government and criminal justice system than I could have otherwise.