A Court Observation Paper

I made an effort to take notice of the variations in the various court proceedings that I had the opportunity to participate in as I observed the proceedings. I had the opportunity to watch arraignments and trials before conducting this court surveillance, but I had never been to any other courts. It was fascinating to observe how each court operated and how each one filled a distinct role within the criminal justice system. I’ll note the variations in the courtroom procedures I observed throughout this essay and evaluate how each one functions. The first type of court proceeding that I witnessed was Syracuse City Court Arraignments, which I saw on February 13th between 10:00 and 11:00 AM. The judge for arraignments that day was Judge Rory A. McMahon and the Assistant District Attorney was Susan Azzarelli. In court that day I observed the arraignment of Gregory M. Lewis who was charged with Assault in the 3rd Degree. Mr. Lewis allegedly punched a man in the eye and pleaded that he was not guilty. Judge McMahon granted an order of protection for the man that the defendant struck, assigned him an attorney, and then set bail at $50,000 cash or bond. I believe that arraignments are an example of “assembly line justice,” but that this is out of necessity. The number of people that are arrested each day is staggering and every single one of them has the constitutional right to arraignment under the sixth amendment. This amendment says, “The accused shall enjoy the right … to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation … and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense” (Books, 2012). During the arraignment, a defendant is notified of the specific charges against him, is assigned an attorney (if needed), and then possibly given bail (Hogan, 2014). The proceedings that go along with arraignment are very short and given the high number of people arrested every day, arraignments tend to look like they are rushed, but I believe that the court system has just become efficient at dealing with these hearings (Ceylan, 2016).

During my court observations I also observed Justice Court at the Dewitt Village Court on March 26th from 6:00 to 7:00 PM; Judge Johkl was filling in on this particular day. I observed a number of short hearings over the hour that I was at court, but only three that were not traffic violations. The first was William Raymond who was charged with unlawful dealing to a child in the 1st degree. Mr. Raymond allegedly sold alcohol to a minor. He had an attorney present and pleaded that he was not guilty. Judge Johkl said that the defendant was free to leave and set another court date for the next month. The second hearing was for Anthonisa Hinkle who was charged with Petit Larceny. Mrs. Hinkle allegedly stole clothing from J.C.Penny on March 7th and had an attorney present. She maintained that she was not guilty and was released until her next court date, which was set for the following month. These first two hearings seemed to be arraignments, but the third was over a different matter. The third defendant was William Cavalair and he was first assigned an attorney by Judge Johkl. Apparently Mr. Cavalair was unable to pay a fine for an Unlawful Possession of Marijuana charge that he was convicted of in 2012. The judge extended the time Mr. Cavalair had to pay the fine and set another court date for the beginning of May.

The third type of court proceedings that I viewed was Superior Court Calendar Call on March 25th. I observed calendar call from 9:30 to 10:30 AM while Judge Tom Miller was presiding. The Assistant District Attorney for that day was Andrew J. Tarkowski. The first defendant I observed was Mario Correa. He was having his bail reviewed for charges of Burglary, Petit Larceny, and Criminal Mischief. The current bond was set at fifteen thousand dollars, and the defense attorney asked Judge Miller to lower the bail to five thousand dollars. However, Andrew Tarkowski asked the judge to raise the bail by twenty-five thousand dollars. This was due to the nature of the crime, a home burglary in which Mr. Correa was witnessed stealing a 46-inch TV and other electronics, and because of some other convictions in New York and Ohio. Judge Miller decided to keep the bail and move ahead with the case as was previously scheduled. The second defendant I observed was Shannon Wilson, She was charged with two petit larceny charges, one in Syracuse and one in Cicero. Mrs. Wilson entered a guilty plea and was convicted of Burglary in the 3rd degree. Judge Miller said that she avoided Grand Jury and a state prison sentence by pleading guilty. He said that she would most likely receive a probation sentence and after that Judge Miller read Mrs. Wilson her rights and then set a sentencing date. I believe that the calendar call is a fair way of dealing with cases because of the sheer number of court proceedings that happen every day. Calendar Calls are relatively short and can save a lot of court time in the long run. This is because their short nature can solve little issues such as guilty pleas, bails, and complaints without having to hold a complete hearing (Brown, 2012). By allowing defendants to plea early, the courts save the defendants, the grand jury, and future jurors the time they would have spent on an unnecessary trial. The Calendar Call can also benefit the defendant, by allowing his/her attorney to push the date of their hearing around for their advantage.

The Superior Court Criminal Trial that I observed was a homicide trial on February 27th from 10:00 to 11:00 AM. Judge John Crandall was the presiding judge and the Assistant District Attorney was Matt Doran. The Defendant’s name was Aaron E. Jackson and Ken Moynihan represented him. Mr. Jackson was already in prison serving a sentence of twenty-five year to life sentence for the attempted murder of a Syracuse Police Officer in 2010. In this case he is being charged with the murder of Terrance Heyward and faces charges of first and second degree murder, first and second degree robbery, and possession of a weapon in the second degree. The murder happened during a robbery that went wrong in which marijuana and possibly heroin were involved. The proceedings were part of a trial and while I was there I observed two witnesses take the stand. The first was Detective Murphy who was interviewed by the prosecutor who worked his way through the defendant’s written testimony that he had given to the detective. Next, Detective Murphy was interviewed by the defense attorney who asked him to walk the jury through the crime on a diagram that showed the crime scene. The second witness that was called was Detective Matthew Frahair. Mr. Frahair is a crime scene detective and he was responsible for making the crime scene diagram. The prosecutor interviewed him first and presented evidence of marijuana that was found at the crime scene and additionally marijuana and a scale that was located in the victim’s apartment. Next, the defense interviewed Detective Murphy; the attorney asked plenty of questions about the exact measurements of the crime scene.

All of the proceedings in this case seemed to fall under the constitution to me. The sixth amendment says, “The accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed … (and) to be confronted with the witnesses against him” (Books, 2012). Given that these rights are observed in almost every criminal trial in the United States, I believe them to be fair. They make sense because a defendant is given access to observe the entire case against him/her and with the help of an attorney he/she can understand what is going on during the trial (Lee, 2017). Given that the right to appeal (granted under the due process clause) is observed, I believe defendants are given a fair trial (Brown, 2012).

Conclusion

Throughout this assignment, I learned to set apart the different court proceedings that I witnessed, I gained a much better understanding of how the court system worked by seeing each type of court. While I knew that real courtrooms did not work like the movie or TV, it was unclear to me exactly how they functioned. While I cannot pick up on everything that was going on in just five hours, this assignment did increase my understanding of the courts. In the next couple years, this knowledge will be very useful as I study the courts more and prepare myself for law school.

References

Books, L. (2012). 1795 in Law: Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. General Books LLC.

Brown, C. B. (2012). Blind Justice. Righter Bookstore.

Ceylan, S. (2016). Criminal Case Game Guide. Booksmango.

Hogan, S. O. (2014). The Judicial Branch of State Government: People, Process, and Politics. ABC-CLIO.

Lee, S. (2017). Appeals and Writs in Criminal Cases, 3d. CEB.