March 11, 2005

Condolences

When I read the news, I first thought of my brother-in-law who practices criminal defense out of Peach Tree City, then of today's victims, then of the judges, court reporters, and deputies I've known personally.

Rest in peace. Catch the killer quickly.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I am an appellate judge in the Midwest but I spent 12 years on the trial bench. The death of the judge, reporter and deputy have shaken me to the core.

As you know the courts can be and are a dangerous place.

As a trial judge I ordered the courthouse evacuated and called for a bomb squad when suspicious vials and note indicating there was explosive in the vials was found during an eminent domain suit. The vials turned out to be fake and to have been planted a week earlier by a prisoner who had used discarded vials from a breathalyzer and putty from the jail windows-how he smuggled them to my courtroom is still a mystery.

Several years later I presided over a high profile civil suit and in the aftermath there were death threats that were sufficiently serious that I had police protection for two weeks.

Finally, more than 20 years ago,one of my compatriots on the appellate bench was prsiding over a criminal trial when the defendant grabbed a deputy's gun killed the two deputies in the court and fled.

Skelly said...

Your Honor:

Thank you for the heart-felt response.

It grieves me to think how vulnerable are the people I work with and care about in this system we've built to try to overcome violence.