Law School Here I Come!

I went to court on the 12th and won my suit in small claims court----law school, here I come! hahaha. I didn't know what to expect. I contemplated watching a marathon of Judge Judy to prepare but it wasn't necessary Ü

I was in front of the judge for *maybe* four minutes. All he cared about was that I had proof that the defendant had been served and that they didn't show up to contest the charges. So he granted me a default judgment. All my hours of collecting phone records, receipts, compiling videotape weren't necessary. Darn. I was kinda of excited to argue my points!

It was definitely an interesting experience sitting in the courtroom for an hour before they called my case and observing other cases. Lots of scraggly people showing up for multiple misdemeanors, drug possession, etc. You would think they would dress up when coming before a judge. Nope. Standard attire was baggy shorts, holey t-shirts, and tennis shoes. I was thinking that these must be the dregs of society, but I was wrong. Pretty soon they started bringing in the inmates that were shackled at the hands and feet, wearing prison jumpsuits with full body tattoos and scary hair/hygiene. Those are the real dregs of society. Pretty much every sentence came with jail time, but in each case the jail time was held in abeyance if they paid a fee and took probation! I think I could come up with a couple hundred dollars if it meant staying out of jail for 45 days. Then again, I think some of these people would turn to robbing a convenience store or something to get the money to avoid jail...

Oh, my favorite defendant was this little old lady who totally looked like she didn't belong. In fact, the only crime I would charge her with was indecent exposure for not wearing a bra. I was surprised when she was charged with driving on a suspended license, reckless driving and the prosecutor said something about her pushing a passenger out of her car while it was moving!