A Couple Hours in Courtland

  It's always fun to watch court proceedings from the peanut gallery.  Often attorneys will pee off the Robe at the drop of a hat by forgetting to do something, forgetting to file paperwork, not showing up, showing up late, any of that raises blood pressure of the Robe in short order. When there's a peturbed Judge on the bench, that can makes things worse for the following cases before the Court
  On Jan 31st, Judge Jack Alsop worked the bench. The idea for the day was for all the parties to get their heads together for upcoming trials. To make sure, everything was in order so when juries are assembled, there are no road blocks.
  Some times the best laid plans run amuck.
  Here goes.
  Rodney Workman manages  to make newspaper pages often. His transgressions and convictions are many. The most recent involved making threatening remarks on Prosecutor Jim Samples and family.
  Dressed in orange with tattoos visible, Workman is a tall lanky guy. Our most senior barrister, Wayne King, was at his side for defenser duty. At 9am sharp, Alsop got everything underway. It didn't take long for  the case to go flat.
  Before the planned Feb 19th trial, attorneys on both sides must cough up all the evidence and paperwork. That's called discovery.
  One of the very first questions from the bench was, has discovery been provided. As soon as Alsop head the paperwork was not filed, his complexion changed. He was peed big time. A sheepish Wayne King along the lines of, Oh Oh Gosh Gosh,I will do that today. At one point, the Waynster raced out of the Courtroom in search of some kind of paperwork.
  With paperwork not properly filed, a  trial delay was a possibility.
  Trying to get his arss out of the wringer, Ms King made public something about a plea deal in the works. Normally that would simmer down a Judge. Didn't work this time!
  Seated beside King, Rodney Workman spoke up, What Plea???? He made it sound like, he didn't have any idea a plea was coming.
  Needless to say, Judge Alsop was not happier with the defenser in charge.   The Workman time in Court lasted just just 6 minutes.
 



Rodney Workman
 


Phillip Mace II

   Task number 2
   Big, thick, balding, Phillip Mace II came into the Courtroom dressed in orange. Wayne King also represented this feller.
  Mace stands charged with beating the stuffin's out of a female acquaintance.
  So what's a Judge do first? Alsop to  Prosecutor, Are you ready for trial?
  Prosecutor Samples normally talks loud enough to be heard. Except, when his words dance around and are much lower in volume. That happens when Samples knows there's a screw up... a screw up on his part for the most part.
  Trying to play word games with the Robe, that didn't go over well with Alsop. Our Prosecutor was dancing around: he was unable to find the victim. He spoke on sending emails that received no reply.
  While using his best wordsmithing skills, Judge Alsop stopped him dead in his tracks, You can't have it both ways!
  Samples tried again to seek a reprieve. Didn't happen.
  All charges against Mr Mace, an alleged beater, those charges were dropped. All done
  Total time in Court was a mere 9 minutes.
  Lets stop here just  a  second readers. Judges put together a schedule, a docket, to give everyone a fair time in Court and so the cases move along. The allotment per case was 30 minutes each.  For this morning, these first two cases were done in less than 16 minutes. Why? Instead of getting all the documents in order and discussing  the needs of the upcoming trial, attorneys put a wrench in the gear.
   With Workman and Mace cases done in less than 15 minutes, and the next case not scheduled for 45 minutes, everyone had to sit on their thumbs. That included bailiffs, recorder, clerk, and Judge side kicks. Such down time is expensive.


Patrick Perdue

  There are certain family patterns. For those of us that have been around a time or two, We remember Steve Perdue. Steve was a heck of a nice guy. He was also well groomed and spoke with good tongue. One other trait to mention here. Mr Perdue was a gifted artist.
   Steve spent his adult life in and out of the slammer with 100% of his transgressions revolving around substance abuse. Such, ruined his life and affected his family.
  Third up before Judge Alsop was Patrick Perdue, son of Steve Perdue.
  Like his dad, Patrick is a very nice looking young man. When he walked into the Courtroom, he was clad in dress coat and tie. His hair was neatly trimmed. Anybody that met him in the street would say, He's got his stuff together and a heck of a nice guy.
  Court documents indicate Patrick stole several checks from his grand parents and then uttered them. Looks can be deceiving. Behand the scenes we understand, Patrick has an addiction problem.
  Represented by Jeff Davis, again things did not go smoothly. Davis said a plea was in order for the first offense guy (since becoming an adult).
  Problem, neither Davis nor Prosecutor Samples had a copy of the plea deal.
  Look for a plea hearing for Feb 5th at 9am before JUdge Jack Alsop.
  As for the Ric Bishop case, everything went smoothly with background stuff in order. That trial will commence Feb 25th at 9am.

   We skeddadled from the Courtroom while they were in a holding pattern for the next match up.
AW