Court Observation

The first court I decided to visit was at 393 University Av. on September 11th after my classes and got there on time for a court session at 12:00 pm. The security was very strict. They looked through my backpack and made me take everything out of my pockets. After the security check we started looking for courtrooms with trials going on and I discovered that not much was happening at that time. A very nice woman told me that there was an interesting case happening in room 702 so I headed down to the 7th floor from the 10th. In front of the courtroom there was a family waiting for the trial to begin. We engaged in a conversation which was very helpful because they were part of the trial and I got a lot of background information on the case before it began. The victim told me that she was hit by a car at a crosswalk on her way to school, and seven years later the case has finally begun. She explained that she doesn’t remember anything from the day of the incident and that she has long term health problems. When the attorneys arrived we all proceeded into the courtroom and I was surprised by the size of the room. The judge arrived shortly after into the small courtroom and we all stood up to honor him. Once the case was on its way, it was interesting the way the attorneys were addressing each other using the words “my friend”. The defense attorney seemed like he was trying to complicate things with technicality about the doctors that examined the victim and trying to hint that they weren’t qualified for the given situation. The judge disagreed, saying that the defense attorney is making matters more complicated then need be. The judge then addressed the witnesses to leave the courtroom and to not discuss any legal matters regarding the case. Following that, the jury arrived and was addressed by the judge, who was explaining the procedures on rules to follow by law. We were then dismissed by the judge from the court until 2:30pm for a lunch break. I was approached by