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It was 1:30 p.m. on a Tuesday when the judge took the bench for the incarcerable traffic docket. The doors had opened a half-hour earlier to allow the witnesses to check in. These cases are officer-driven; generally, the officer makes ...

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‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the courthouse, Not a creature was stirring, not even a louse. The judge’s nameplate was secured with care, In hopes that His Honor would soon be there. The defendants were nestled in ...

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I woke up early on Monday morning to paint my face for court. I wore a tuxedo suit from Brooks Brothers, a crisp, white, collared shirt and glossy, red lipstick. At 8:30 a.m. the audience filtered in to the benched ...

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Before the start of every docket, I said a little prayer. I prayed that that the judge would be patient with me, I prayed that an officer wouldn’t complain to my supervisor for dropping his case, I prayed that no ...

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I rooted myself at the dining room table and attempted to chip away at the next day’s 8:30 a.m criminal docket. The dockets in Rockville’s district court are always heavier than in Silver Spring’s. The types of crimes vary with ...

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The courtroom opens at 8:30 a.m. for the 9 a.m. criminal docket. The public defenders check in around 8:15 a.m., at which point the state extends plea offers. Although the PDs play for the other team, their challenges do not ...

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With the challenges of training behind me, I still felt no relief running dockets on my own. I had relied too heavily on the guidance of my trainer in fashioning plea offers. There is no formula to it; rather, a ...

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Two weeks after I began in the state’s attorney’s office, the empty cubicle to my left became occupied by Pedro Shultz, a former law clerk with the judge I clerked for. Pedro was a former courtroom clerk and decided to ...

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“You gotta grow a thick skin pretty fast in this line a work,” he said. I turned around and there stood a police officer leaning on the door to the liaison’s office where my showdown with seersucker ensued. He stood ...

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I managed to survive my first criminal docket, but only by a hair. The good news was we finished the docket by noon. The bad news was I had to drop half of the cases — and I lost all ...

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