American Justice
I decided to get out of my cave today and see a bit of the real world. No, not the reality TV show, real life reality. So I headed over to the North Santa Clara County Courthouse in Palo Alto to see some real live criminals in court. On my way in I chatted it up with the Sheriff working security at the courthouse. He suggested I head up to Department 85 for the 1:30 arraignments of 20 suspects currently being held in incarceration for their cases, and I followed his suggestion.
I waited outside of the courtroom for it to open. Only one other person was waiting outside, a middle-aged woman. Then a few court personnel gathered outside the courtroom and finally knocked on the doors to have the deputy open the courtroom. When we entered the courtroom, the jury box was filled with inmates in shackels and chains. All but three were men, and most were pretty scary looking. However, one by one they were called in front of the judge, and when they spoke they became less imposing.
All of these folks had been incarcerated over the weekend or longer, but none of these cases were for felonies. In fact, most of these cases were pretty pathetic, even for misdemeanor cases. There wasn't even one DUI case. All but three or four of these people are probably back out free on the streets right now.
There was a couple of public intoxication cases that were resolved by simply having the suspects plead guilty or no contest and then having the judge credit their time served toward a day or two sentence. A couple of others were there on marijuana possession charges, including one man who was booked for possessing 8.6 grams of dope. His sentence? One day, and credit for time served. The madam of the court also pointed out to the judge that this particular person also had two outstanding traffic violations; one for spitting in a transit terminal and the other for not having a light on his bike. The judge suspended sentences in exchange for guilty pleas on those two counts.
A Mexican man was arrested for possessing two switchblades in his backpack and pleaded guilty. Another admitted he had missed a court date, but informed the judge he had scheduled a new date with the court, but had been picked up by the cops prior to his new date, so they detained him for missing his prior one. In the process of explaining his case, he informed the judge that he had recently gotten his girlfriend "a little bit pregnant" and need to get out of jail to go back to work.
The saddest of all of the cases was a very nice looking Latina who originally pleaded not guilty to her driving on a suspended license charge. But when the judge informed her she'd have to go back to jail until Friday, the date of her next court appearance, she decided to change her plea to no contest, a plea that would get her out of jail by Wednesday.
I waited outside of the courtroom for it to open. Only one other person was waiting outside, a middle-aged woman. Then a few court personnel gathered outside the courtroom and finally knocked on the doors to have the deputy open the courtroom. When we entered the courtroom, the jury box was filled with inmates in shackels and chains. All but three were men, and most were pretty scary looking. However, one by one they were called in front of the judge, and when they spoke they became less imposing.
All of these folks had been incarcerated over the weekend or longer, but none of these cases were for felonies. In fact, most of these cases were pretty pathetic, even for misdemeanor cases. There wasn't even one DUI case. All but three or four of these people are probably back out free on the streets right now.
There was a couple of public intoxication cases that were resolved by simply having the suspects plead guilty or no contest and then having the judge credit their time served toward a day or two sentence. A couple of others were there on marijuana possession charges, including one man who was booked for possessing 8.6 grams of dope. His sentence? One day, and credit for time served. The madam of the court also pointed out to the judge that this particular person also had two outstanding traffic violations; one for spitting in a transit terminal and the other for not having a light on his bike. The judge suspended sentences in exchange for guilty pleas on those two counts.
A Mexican man was arrested for possessing two switchblades in his backpack and pleaded guilty. Another admitted he had missed a court date, but informed the judge he had scheduled a new date with the court, but had been picked up by the cops prior to his new date, so they detained him for missing his prior one. In the process of explaining his case, he informed the judge that he had recently gotten his girlfriend "a little bit pregnant" and need to get out of jail to go back to work.
The saddest of all of the cases was a very nice looking Latina who originally pleaded not guilty to her driving on a suspended license charge. But when the judge informed her she'd have to go back to jail until Friday, the date of her next court appearance, she decided to change her plea to no contest, a plea that would get her out of jail by Wednesday.
posted by Leroy at
5:06 PM
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