My second day at the courthouse, Judge Davidian told me to meet him on the 10th floor. Judges offices are located on the 10th floor, along with their secretaries. I was introduced to Robin, and I was told to contact her if I ever needed anything. Shortly thereafter, a girl around my age walked in. I thought she was another intern, but she ended up being the daughter of a judge who worked in the justice center. After that, I was directed to courtroom 304 with Judge Meyer to observe Probation Violations. Because most of the probation violation hearings revolve around monies owed, the courtroom moves incredibly fast. So, instead of attempting to call 50 different public defenders in to court on a certain day, they assign an Attorney of the Day from the Public Defender’s Office. Though this title seems meritorious, it is quite deceiving. Attorney of the Day involves reading all of the cases of violation and negotiating with the District Attorney, which is often challenging and tiring. Through this process, many people get their fees waived. In the rare case where the violation involved prohibited substances, the defendant may be arrested in the courtroom and taken to the jail to serve their sentence. In some cases, long term confinement would be illegal. Pursuant to G.S. 15A-1343(a1)(3), the probation officer can mandate a “quick dip” in jail for a few days a month, just to remind the criminal of what they could have experianced.
Most people admitted to a willful violation of their probation, so there were not many trials with testimony and the traditional proceedings. From there, most of the work was on the back end, and the clerks were swamped with paperwork. One of the clerks told me that the legislature had recently mandated additional forms to be filled out for PV’s, which bogged down the process. The paperwork mostly involved confirming the validity of the negotiations between the defense, the state, and the probation officer.
About halfway through the morning session, Judge Meyer introduced me to his daughter, the girl I had seen earlier. “This is my daughter,” he said. “Talk to her about Law School and what it’s like; she’s a rising freshman.” After informing Judge Meyer that I was, indeed, in High School, we both sat back and watched the trials.
I noticed almost immediately that there were way more teenagers in this courtroom than there were in First Appearances yesterday. That actually made me happy because it showed that the District Attorney had used his prosecutorial discretion and tried to get teenagers on probation instead of having them serve out their sentence. On top of that, most of the people in the room seemed like good people. Judge Meyer motivated people to continue their treatment and to get help. It seemed like he genuinely cared about them, and wanted them to stay out of trouble.
We moved through the docket quickly today, and so the bailiffs in the room let me go into the lockup area. The Justice Center has three sets of elevators: one for the public, one for staff, and one for prisoners. The one for prisoners comes up between the courtrooms, and opens to a sort of mini-jail that can hold up to 5 people at once. It looked like what I had expected it to look like – concrete slabs and metal – but it was cool nevertheless.
In the afternoon, I was assigned to DWI Trials in room 204. Most of the people convicted enacted plea deals, where they could plead guilty to the crime and possibly receive a lighter sentence. After people were found guilty, the Judge would ask each party for aggravating and mitigating factors. Aggravating factors are anything that would prompt a longer sentence, such as a BAC above .15. Mitigating factors are anything that would prompt a shorter sentence, like turning one’s self in or being cooperative with the police. 