Eyewitness

Today I had to go to court. I was a witness in a case against a parent of a former student at my school. The parent had come up to the school in December because she was upset with how a situation was handled with her daughter. She ended up having to be handcuffed and taken out of the school by police officers. She was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and several other charges.

It was definitely interesting to see the legal system at work. The questions that both the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney asked were basically the same. The way in which they were spun, though, was very different. For the most part, the prosecuting attorney simply asked me who, what, where questions. The defense attorney tried to ask several leading questions in which I had to answer very carefully.

One question in particular was asked about why the parent had come up to the school on that day. I was asked, "Did Ms. Allen ask you to leave a copy of the information regarding student searches in the office so that she could pick one up?" I answered yes because the parent did tell me that she would like a copy of this information provided to her. The next question was, "Why was there not a copy of this information left for her in the main office?" I made sure that I responded that multiple copies of that information is always in the office, but I personally handed a copy to her myself. Several following questions from the defense attorney continued to try to make the issue the fact that the parent was provided the information in my office rather than the main office. Needless to say, I felt that I needed to remain alert and answer each and every question strategically so as not to be backed into a corner.

The other interesting part of my experience involved me using profanity with the judge. Now, before you get the wrong idea let me explain that I again was clarifying some information pertaining to this incident. I had to repeat to the judge the various obscene and vulgar statements that were made to me by this parent and another individual that was with her. I am fairly certain that I am one of the few people who have ever made any of these comments directly to this judge in court and been dismissed with no reprimand. Let's just say that if I had to say these same things to my mother I would definitely blush.

So, that was a taste of my first experience testifying in a court of law. Oh... the defendant was found guilty. The sentencing was set for a later date. I was told by the prosecuting attorney afterward that this was done because he is asking for some jail time in this case. Because the defendant had 22 prior charges on her record (some of which include disorderly conduct) the judge was going to review her file before handing down a sentence.