Day at the Court

So last Tuesday we visited the court. It was a fair bit more entertaining than I expected, though perhaps not as exciting as I could have wished. Admittedly, my only previous experience with the court are the Ace Attorney games on the Nintendo DS, where common practice is to interject testimonies and rebuttals with a yell of "OBJECTION!!" , throw steaming hot coffee at the opposition's face, and celebrate a Not Guilty verdict with an explosion of confetti supplied by the police force.

Needless to say, the reality is a bit different.

After a bit of meandering through town, we found the court just off the high street. It was big and imposing from the outside, as these sorts of places tend to be, and on the inside, far too empty. After passing through security and briefly getting lost, we found and seated ourselves in the public gallery of, if I remember correctly, Court Room 4.

It was pretty scarce up there. Besides our party of six, there was a trio of law students (I assume they were law students) who had arrived just before us, and they had taken the good seats. Sitting in the farthest back row, my view was obscured. The others say they could see the defendant and claimant (is that the right term here?) from where they were seated, but from where I sat I could barely see the defence attorney putting his arguments forth without leaning forward and tilting my head to an uncomfortable angle. I'm not sure if there were any court reporters there, either. if they were there, they were out of my sight.

I know we're not supposed to look at the jury, lest our eyes lock and my biased, plebeian views sets prejudice in their minds, but I couldn't help myself. They were as diverse a bunch as I could've expected. There was the Focused One, absorbing all the information and speedily penning it down; the Organised One with her various folders and notepads - no doubt all colour coded - laid out in front of her; the Empty Space, which sat in for someone who couldn't care less about this court business* and, my favourite of all, That One Guy - and there's always one - who just doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks, leaning forwards, hands cupping face, elbows set on the desk before him and leaning into the desk space of his neighbours, unabashedly taking a nap. Every so often he would straighten up, open his eyes as wide as possible, slap a hand over his mouth in a desperate attempt to stifle a yawn and concentrate for a few minutes before sleep inevitably overpowered him once more.

*Or so I initially thought, anyway - turns out one of the jurors had to be removed due to personally knowing someone involved.

I suppose I'm in no position to mock the guy, though. I had to strain to make out what the judge said and the prosecution lawyer's words all seemed to mesh together into one - eventually I gave up and began amusing myself by inspecting the wooden walls and ceiling, which I found far more interesting than I ought to have. I did pay attention when the forensics experts came up to discuss the evidence, though. I did find their science to be fascinating, and actually I kind of wish I'd taken notes, since now I can't really remember much about it.

We sat and observed for an hour, then quietly left. Overall it was quite interesting. We got to see how the court works, and it did make me revise over McNae's to make sure nothing I'd written was in contempt of the court, and I think I've deleted anything contentious I'd written, though if I haven't I'm sure Chris or Brian will be quick to slaughter me for it. I think the case is over by now which would remove the problems, but I'm not entirely sure either. Still it was a fun day, and if not for the court, I would not have discovered the magical wonderland that is Pizza Hut. The weekday buffet was spectacular.