Credo

I had felony arraignment duty this morning. It's a pretty formalistic assembly line: each individual is called to the podium with me, where we're handed a piece of intimidating-looking paper, and I'm expected to recite a rote incantation something along these lines -

"I acknowledge receipt of the State's Information, waive further formal reading of the same as well as further formal advice of rights on my client's behalf, request that the Court enter my client's plea of Not Guilty and request that the Court set the matter for jury trial in the fullness of time, yea, even unto the sixtieth day."

Or something. I'm not so good at sticking to the script. The litany is best delivered with no deviations, and in as flat a tone as possible, so naturally I try to mix it up and see if I can give the spiel differently for each different client.

This went better today. Last time I did arraignments, I became confused as to venue by the twentieth defendant or so, so instead of saying "I acknowledge receipt of the State's Information...", I began with "I acknowledge one baptism..." There's a recording of it somewhere.