My son had to testify in a murder trial when He was in 9th grade, because of something he overheard. (my son is a good guy and was no way involved). He had to be at the court house for a few days waiting for them to call him and never got to watch any of the trial at all.
It was a real eye opener for me.. as there were 3 or 4 kids up on murder charges and the ones with public defenders got convicted and the one with the high priced lawyer got off, scott free.
I know this is a bit off topic.. but I was amazed at how nasty acting that high priced attorney was and how he treated the witnesses, Including my son who was just an innocent kid. I can imagine how the lawyers will deal with the A's and all their confusing stories and lies.
Bolded by me
One of my daughters was to testify at an assult trial when she was just 14. She witnessed the assault at her high school. She heard several of perps' buddies bet him $25 that he wouldn't punch someone in the nose. He took them up on the bet and, everyone agreed, randomly broke the nose of the next guy he saw. The victim was just the next kid he saw.
Three times, my husband and I took off work to pick our daughter up and take her to the court. The first two times, the defense attorney just didn't show. In our 3rd trip to court, we watched the prosecution announce, in court, that a plea deal had been reached. The very arrogant defense attorney stood up and demanded that the courtroom be emptied in order to protect
his client's privacy. The judge, in court, said that wasn't necessary. The defense attorney insisted and we all had to leave.
We eventually learned the results through the high school rumor mill. The charges were basically dropped so that the perp, who was a key player on the school's football team, would not loose any potential college scholarships.
He was back in school within the month.
Throughout the months this took, we had several times asked the prosecutor's office for protection for our daughter as she was the only witness who was not a team-mate of the perp. They sympathized but said that none could be provided unless an attempt was made to harm her. You can imagine how little sleep we had for months. No attempts were made and she was unharmed - except for her complete loss in the expectation of justice in our legal system.
The victim's face had to be surgically repaired. He and his family moved shortly after the court date, so we don't know if any civil action was ever taken. The perp's family had money and maybe restitution was part of the plea.
:bang:
