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The court I attended was Norfolk Superior Court. Driving from Curry College to
the court was only about a 10 minute drive. When I arrived I parked around back of the
district courthouse across the street. I was expecting to have to pay for parking, but it
was surprisingly free. I walked into the courthouse and right away you are greeted by
the courthouse security. I was instructed to take everything out of my pockets and place
it on the belt and walk through the metal detector. Once I made it through security I
asked the court security officers what cases were going on today. They instructed me
that there were a few cases today. One was a murder case, one that the jury is being
selected and they talked about a few other cases. They told me to take the door on my
right. I proceeded up the stairs and walked into the courtroom (I thought It was the
murder trial courtroom until about 1 hour into observing the case). The main room was
beautiful. They had paintings on the wall of judges (I assume past judges) and a nice
set of books behind the judge. The detail of the woodwork was outstanding. To me, it
looked like a fake movie set up, but I had not been to many nicer courtrooms. I had only
been to one court before for jury duty and it was not as elaborate as this courtroom was.
I went to the Wrentham district court for jury duty and the two court main rooms are
totally different.
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Once I entered the court I could hear a pin drop. Everyone in the room turned
and looked at me. I sat quietly in the back row. For about 15 minutes there was not a
word spoken. Finally, the defendants lawyers (counsel) stood up and went to speak to
the judge on the sidebar. The lawyer then turned to the jury and started asking them
questions by their seat number. She started with asking everyone to raise their hand if
they had a pet. 13 of the jury members did. She then started asking what kind of pet, its
name, etc. She then asked would you be partial in your decision against the defendant if
you saw photos of dead animals. She explained how there might be some disturbing
photos in this trial. Some explained how they could and some said no way. It was a mix
between the jury. The lawyer said thank you and then proceed to go and talk with the
judge at the sidebar. One by one, some of the jury members were called up to the
sidebar and spoke with the judge. Some sat back down and some walked out of the
back of the court. At first, I was confused as to what was happening then I realized that
they were being dismissed. They dismissed one, then two, then three, four, etc. There
were about 4 jury members left the remaining were told to go to the jury deliberation
room and to not talk about the case to anyone. The court security then read jury
numbers one by one. The counsel talked to the judge and with the lawyers standing
next to the jury member. The jury members either sat in the jury seat, sat in a seat
inside the bar, or got to leave the courtroom. This process took around 20 minutes.
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Then, one of the bailiff officers came over and asked if I was here for a class. I told him
yes and he told me a great murder case might be interesting to see rather than watching
this boring part of the trial. He then showed me the way to the courtroom and I thanked
him.
The courtroom that I walked into was totally different than the previous
courtroom. This one was small, dirty and worn. The carpet was bumpy and stained. The
seats were worn and dirty. The paint on the ceiling was peeling and stained. When I
walked in, only the defense attorney was in the room. I talked to one of the lawyers
about the case. He told me that the case had been going on about 4 weeks and should
go another 2 weeks. He asked me what class I was there for and I said business law.
Shortly, others came in, including judge Raymond Brassard, the court clerk, and court
stenographer. Next, a few bailiff officers came in with the defendant who was in
handcuffs and leg cuffs. He was un-cuffed then leaned to his lawyer who looked back at
me. It almost seemed like the defendant was asking something about me. The jury
shortly arrived and filed into the court. You heard the word all rise when the jury came
into the room. The judge then told everyone to please be seated.
Georgios Kontsas who was stabbed to death. Georgios gave his life to save his wifes
life. His wife only suffered a laceration to her next. There was a six-week trial back in
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2014 but it was declared a mistrial after the jury was hung. This type of case that I
observed was a criminal case based on the facts and observations that I heard when
observing the trial. The case was being charged as a felony as it involved a murder of
an individual.
On the witness stand was trooper Russell Patenaude. Russell was wearing a
suit, had brown/blonde hair and had a very red face throughout his time on the witness
stand. The witness was being questioned by the John Swomley, who is the defendants
attorney, about the knife that was found in the kitchen sink at the scene of the crime.
John Swomley was taller, wearing a suit, and had round glasses. They took out the knife
which was in a white box with evidence and a case number written on the box. It was a
12in knife with a wooden handle. The defense attorney confirms with trooper Russell
that this happened on February 27, 2010. The attorney asks if he saw Dorothea (who
was the wife of Georgios) at the hospital. The trooper says yes I talked to her at 12:00.
Defense attorney went on and on and said yesterday on the stand you said you talked to
her at 1:30 which is impossible because she had tubes and pipes in her and she was
not awake. The witness on the stand was mixing times up from yesterday and today
which was not good. The defense attorney was raising his voice and you could see the
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The witness is saying he went to the hospital to interview Dorothea, but now he
says he did not conduct an interview as she had tubes in her and could not speak. He is
contradicting himself. Swomley references trooper Russells testimony that says he saw
her and spoke with her at 12:00pm but he is saying he spoke with her at 1:30pm. He
seems even more frustrated and the lawyer was confusing me almost like he was doing
this to Topper Russell on purpose. Swomley seemed to be beating up the witness and
wants the answers that he wants. The witness stops and takes a big deep breath and
says that he did not speak with her she got out of surgery at 1:23 and tried talking to
her at 1:30 but could not. There were tubes in her arms and could not speak. Swomley
was trying to get at how he got the description of the suspect. The witness goes on to
say that a Stoughton police officer Smith said that he told him the suspect was in his
40s with salt and pepper hair with a dark SUV. Swomley turns and shakes his heads
with his back to the witness. He raises his voice and says any new things you want to
share other than what you testified?!?!. The witness goes on and says he went back at
4:30 and talked with Dorothea. The doctors removed the tubes as they could safely
without harming her health. The attorney went on to say that was not mentioned in the
testimony and the trooper acknowledges that almost like he knows and messed up.
Swomley grills him and questions him about why he did not write down that you talked
with her. The judge interjects and says lets try and get this wrapped up. Swomley says I
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agree, but I am just looking for the correct answers to my questions. He stops asking
questions and takes his seat. I look at the clock and notice that it is already 1:00 so I
My overall thoughts about observing the case was a positive experience. I did
once have to go to jury duty but never got picked for a trial so I have not experienced an
actual trial. I was surprised on a multitude of items about the court and law in general.
First, I was astonished on how the court was in disrepair. The outside of the building
looks like a classic city/town building. It was brick and cement. I could not believe how
much work needed to be done to inside the building. When I went to Wrentham District
Court for when I have jury duty, the waiting area for jury members was terrible. They
had old uncomfortable seats, no Wi-Fi, no TV for entertainment, etc. What surprised me
the most is that they did not even have a coffee machine/snack machine. This could be
Secondly, I was amazed to see how the trial process works. You see all of those
shows on TV that show Hollywood Court with beautiful courtrooms and that it takes
very little time to come up with a verdict. This is so not true. The amount of time it takes
for a case is amazing. There is so much time for preparation for the lawyers and then
once a trial gets started it could take days or months. The case I observed has been
going on 4 weeks.
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Lastly, I think the court system is fair. I think that everyone should be innocent
until proven guilty. In this trial that I observed, I think the lawyer for the defendant was
walking the line but I think some lawyers do use this as a tactic. He was trying to get the
witness that was on the stand to be confused and get in his head. Even when we the
lawyer was speaking to the witness I was getting confused and at one point, I could see
the look on some of the people on the jury who seemed confused as well.
explore the court system, see an actual courthouse and to watch and observe a current
case.