Friday, July 31, 2009

The JAWBREAKER of the Law...


I have never been a fan or Jaw Breakers. C'mon really? Who wants to eat something that claims it can "break your jaw?"
Going to court yesterday reminded me a lot of a Jaw Breaker.

When you pop a jaw breaker into your mouth - it is usually ridiculously large, not fitting comfortably on your tongue, and way too big to pop into your cheek.
Well, court was a lot like that. We got there - and it was a vast space chocked with anxious people looking well, confused.

We saw the huge screens overhead flashing names. We waited for page 6 to roll around and no LINDNER. Just like the let down of the first layer of a jaw breaker.
With confusion and frustration stinging us like the uncomfortable feeling the jaw breaker offers until it shrinks in size we stumbled our way here then there looking for help.

Finally a layer down. We found the right place to go. We sat and waited, just as you wait on the jaw breaker.
The court room opened, people pushed and shoved to get in as though there was some great prize awaiting.

Another layer gone.

We took our seats and the waiting began. Waited for another layer of that dreaded jawbreaker to melt away to something different.

We waited...and waited...I see now where the saying "The wheels of justice turn slowly" came into existence.

We nursed our jawbreaker - not pleased that it was taking, well hours to melt from one layer to another.

We listened to other people go before the judge, hearing much to their dismay the act that brought them there that day. Perhaps a bit of public humiliation is part of the legal process.
Our jawbreaker was still at an uncomfortable size as the judge decided to "take a short recess". We were told not to read anything, listen to anything, chew gum, eat, drink or talk.

Dunt, Dunt, Dunt, Dunt....the minutes clicked away on the clock. Nothing but the sounds of people breathing, sneezing or an occasional cough.

Melt jawbreaker - melt! NOOOOO the jawbreaker of court took forever to change from one layer to the next.

One and a half hours later, the honorable judge returned from "recess". RECESS? When I think of recess I think of running willy nilly on a playground being chased by boys while my ponytails flew in the wind.
What a dumb thing to have a judge take...a recess.

We continued to milk the jawbreaker of the law in hopes that TAYLOR LINDNER would be the next name called. With each impending over sized blue filed handed to the judge - you could hear people suck in their breath in anticipation. "EMILIO RODRIQUEZ" she shouted. Darn! Time slowly clicked away as we heard what he did to bring him to court.

The 20 year old got behind the wheel of a car with a blood alcohol level of .28 more than 3 times the legal limit. He was taking a "D.A. BARGAIN" to plead GUILTY and be sentenced here and now. He would take 4 months in jail, 3 years formal probation AND be deported back to Mexico instead of pleading "not guilty" and being held over for trial. A reward of sorts for not taking up more of the court's time.

One person after the other until finally nearly 5 hours later, "TAYLOR LINDNER" was called. He went before the judge and she informed him that he had the right to legal representation and given that we had been proactive and filled out the application for a Public Defender - he would be assigned one and bound over for trial on August 28th.

"Please be seated, wait for your paperwork then leave the court room quietly."

AT LAST - the jawbreaker had become a manageable size. I had grown irritated with the taste and could not wait to spit it into the trash.

I will do my very best to not ever be in the position where I have to eat the jawbreaker of the law. Not fun. Nothing but a ball of stress.

So, Taylor will meet with the assigned Public Defender for the 3 misdemeanor counts a week before his hearing. He will then go before the judge and hopefully receive a sentence.
I pray this is so, because I can not stand yet another jawbreaker!

xoxo
Janean