My Days At Court - Final Edition

At least I hope so!

Monday after E1 & E2 left for school, I dropped E3 off at my parents house so she could hang out with Grandpa while I made my debut as a witness for that trial - the one where I was originally almost a juror.

I entered the courthouse with my book (necessary for the incessantly long waits that come with court proceedings), my id, and a water bottle, passed through security, and proceeded up the stairs. I saw one of the lawyers for the defense in the hallway, and stopped to ask her if I should go directly into the courtroom or if I should wait somewhere else.

"What? They told you to come today? Did C (her secretary) tell you today?"

"Um...I thought so...at least the paperwork I got from the court officer indicated today at 9a.m."

"Because we won't need you until at least Wednesday afternoon, maybe Thursday morning - if we need you at all."

She apologized profusely, even though I figured I probably misunderstood. For what it's worth, the papers from the court DID read Monday at 9a.m., but it also instructed me to call the lawyers office (I had) to get further information - I don't recall the secretary telling me anything other than they'd call me if/when they had a more specific time.

So, I left, strolled through a furniture store to investigate the cost of bunk beds and drool over couches, visited the town's tiny (by today's standards) Mal-Wart (in the process of being replaced by a SUPER) for some of those short cans of root beer, stopped by the Farm Bureau to pick up the free family photo we had taken last month, and got a Cherry Ski before heading back to Dad's to get E3. In between stops I called Rob to update him on the court thing, and called my brother-in-law to let him know I could get Nephew F from pre-k after all. The morning turned out to be a nice block of unexpected free time.

That afternoon I got a voice mail from the lawyer where she again apologized profusely for the mix-up and told me she wasn't sure they would need me...if they did it would be Wednesday afternoon...and she would call again Tues afternoon to let me know for sure.

Yesterday she called - they would not be requiring my presence. They felt all the information I could provide had already been covered, and the jury was looking antsy (I can SO sympathize and I told the lawyer that if they were looking antsy they most definitely WERE, based on my recent experience) and they were looking to turn it over to the jury by noon today (they could be deliberating as I type).

I had a question to ask though - The day of the accident a couple stopped to help. They got to the injured girl before I even got out of my car and, since they were helping her I sat with the injured girl's younger siblings and drove them to the hospital as well. You see, although 911 was called and the EM T's arrived very quickly the police never did and so in addition to there being no one to take charge of the kids, a police report was never completed and they had NO names of the people who stopped to help - that couple, a guy in a truck, and me (with E1 & E2 who stayed in the car listening to their Princess music CD). Finding me in the jury box was a complete shock to them, and though they had learned the identity of the guy in the truck, as of the day they'd interviewed me they did not know who that other couple was and I was only able to tell them where I thought the couple had said they lived.

So I had to know -did they ever locate the unknown couple that also stopped that day, and helped provide basic first aid to the injured girl?

THEY HAD!

Based on what I told them in the deposition they placed an ad in a newspaper local to that area - the lawyer's secretary is from a neighboring town and claimed no one reads that particular paper...BUT! A friend of the couple saw the ad, thought it sounded familiar, passed the ad to them, and they in turn called the lawyer.

The couple testified yesterday.

I was pleased to hear it.