Court Observation

Court Observation

On April 1st I decided to take advantage of the extra credit opportunity and take a trip down to the city courthouse. After driving around looking for the courthouse; I find a parking spot, and enter the Caddo Parish Courthouse just before 9 a.m. Through the security check point I went, and on to the information desk, where I was told to head upstairs and talk with the bailiffs. Upon discussing with the bailiffs which court room would provide the most interesting cases; they informed me to try court room H. When asked why that particular room, the bailiff insisted that they would all be similar, and court room H was to start shortly.

As I entered court room H and looked around and then took a seat. At this time there were only two other people sitting in the gallery. Behind the bar stood the prosecutors, defense attorneys, bailiff, court reporter, and a female police officer there to testify. Not long after I sat down, the female prosecutor turned around and asked me what I was here for. When I told her I was a student there to observe for class, she quickly turned around and went back to her paperwork. Nine o'clock rolled by and it appeared as court would not be starting anytime soon. So as I sat there and waited, I couldn't help but ease drop in on what the two prosecutors were talking about. One of them complained about how he had sent reminders to various police officers to show up for court, and his ongoing struggle to get them there. He then began to talk about a prostitution case, in which a warrant was previously issued. The male prosecutor was gung ho about putting this particular person away upon capture, and was ready to ...