Have you ever seen a criminal court trial in person? What is it like?

I’ve served on a jury for a criminal case. It was a relatively minor charge, and there wasn’t a lot of drama about it.

There’s only one judge in the courtroom. I was paying attention to the lawyers, the witnesses, and the defendant, and the judge when the judge was speaking. Everybody seemed pretty serious and businesslike.

I was at my mothers sentencing for killing my father. There was a fuckload of press outside. We had to be covered in the lawyers coats when we left the courthouse. She had already plead guilty so this was just the sentencing. But everything was pretty calm. It was fucking traumatic for a 11 year old me thinking what I said could result in the death penalty for her.

But the courtroom was calm.

There is the trial of the girl that killed her BF in the bathroom which I assume this is what this question is all about. From what I have seen the prosecutor was a bit over the top since he knew it was all being recorded. He was like Snookie with a law degree giddy that he would be on tv.

And people were selling tickets to the trial.

A woman was kicked out of court on Tuesday for allegedly accepting money for her seat in the public gallery. The cost of a seat to the Jodi Arais trouble? For this woman it was $200! Jane Velez-Mitchell speaks to the woman who was thrown out of court.

Fucking gross…

I went to court for minor charge.

Besides the lawyers and judge and guard defendent and court reporter we were the only ones there.

He plead out. Everything was short businesslike. The attoneys made some final negotations though we had already negotiated prior to only weird thing was they asked if I wanted to make a statement and allowed the defendent to make one. Which was that despite he was pleading guilty he was perfectly innocent and the system failed him.

I forgot to add that court cases always get pushed and delayed. Mine took 6 or 7 months to reach trial and he plead out on the first day.

Always call beforehand to make sure. Dozens of calender calls etc. If you have a district attorney or if it is a minor crime domestic violence or a minor assault charge criminal mischief etc… stuff that is traumatic but small fries as far as courts go they will almost always let them plea down to the misdeameanor unless there is a really good case. For example, my experience was dv assualt but the assualt with deadly weapon was dropped because that would have been a felony and it was my word against his and few crummy photos. He was able to ditch the weapon in the woods and snow.

He did get the felony criminal mischief because he had made several admissions to guilt once on tape to different people and the damages far outstripped the maximum for it to be considered a misdemeanor.

Also you pretty much have to accept that you will hardly ever speak to the da or meet w/ them. That they will always get the details slightly mixed up etc. Phone calls if you are persistent will happen, just threaten to go down to the office in person they will call you back. Also emails. Just give them the clearest account you can. My police report I didn’t even write the police wrote it but I was too numb and in shock to give a complete factual and detailed account when I reported the crime. I wanted to fill one out they said don’t bother.

What I did make sure to be clear about was that I wanted my attacker to have a psych eval and then be compliant to recommendations in it. I made sure the da knew that and they included that in the plea agreement. I also wanted no contact for me and family. And they threw in the damages and a few other stipulations I hadn’t thought about or remember. I just felt that those conditions were important. He refused help and probably won’t get much from it. But he lost that right so its on him. And should he change his mind help is there.

I found out that there is no jusitice and no healing in the courtroom. But I had to go there to find that out. I didn’t have to show up legally or otherwise since he was pleaing out. I had to face my attacker so I knew I could without falling apart, to see him as human, to find out that there was no justice healing or hope in the courtroom. For some reason I always believed there was.

If you are a woman no matter what you are a victim of I recommend you going to the womens shelter because they have programs and resources and are familair with the justice system in the area.

To summarize many delays. Have a written account that is detailed and accurate make sure the attorney has it. Find out what is important that you need from this case and let the attorney know. Look for justice support healing elsewhere.

Mind numbingly boring.

I was on the jury of a murder trial. The guy had murdered a paraplegic doctor by moving his wheelchair and setting his bed on fire.
The judge reminded me of Judge Joe Brown (on one of the judge shows on TV) in his actions and his looks. Both lawyers were quiet spoken, they never yelled.
It was a very serious and somber mood in the courtroom the whole time. The victims family was in the audience and never showed expressions on their face.
There was a dramatic scene just as the verdict was read. The lights went out and there were no windows in the courtroom so it was pitch dark. I was scared to death for a minute as this guy was a gang member and I thought his friends might have done something.
I found out later that all police in the courthouse had ran to the courtroom with guns drawn.
They took us out a side door and escorted us to our cars so no one would see us or follow us.

It is rather dry and boring. Nothing like on TV.+
A lot of times the trial had to be rescheduled because one of the parties did not show up.

I’ve seen criminal proceedings from different perspectives, juror, potential witness, defendant of a misdemeanor. Criminal proceedings are damn serious, because the defendant may be separated from society for a period of time.

The introduction of TV cameras seems to have changed behavior of everyone involved in a trial. It’s like everyone is auditioning for a reality TV show.

Very boring, and very confusing. What can be an important moment gets bogged down with 12 hours of earlier testimony giving a foundation for the big moment. By that time everyone is wondering when the trial will be over.

I was on a jury for a criminal trial. I found it quite interesting. There really wasn’t much discussion, we were all pretty convinced he wasn’t guilty. It had something to do with his ex-girlfriend and we all fairly sure she was trying to be vindictive. What I found most interesting was the after the trial both attorneys interviewed the jurors and asked us what we thought they did right and wrong.

As an aside, it was in Southern California in the late 90’s and both of the attorneys and the judge had connections with the OJ Simson trial. I thought that was kind of interesting.

@SuperMouse, that reminds me: after the trial, the defense lawyer did stop me (I’d been the foreman of the jury) and ask me questions.
Did we believe the defendant’s testimony? No, we didn’t. Why not?
Did we believe the defendant’s girlfriend’s testimony? No, we didn’t. Why not?

The interesting thing was that following this trial (for possession of a concealed weapon by a guy on parole; we said he was guilty), the same defendant was about to be tried for armed robbery—a fact that everyone kept carefully concealed from us while the trial was on. The defense attorney told me that while questioning me. When I learned that, I felt vindicated; it had been kind of hard for everyone to declare that pathetic-looking SOB guilty—we didn’t want him to be.

P.S. We didn’t believe the arresting officer either.