Courthouse Shootings

Today's news has been dominated by coverage of the shooting at the courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia. It seems pretty clear that the shooter, a criminal defendant in custody who was being transported from jail to the courtroom, took a gun from the lone deputy who was escorting him. The incident may have been prevented or the carnage lessened if the deputy had no weapon, or if the handgun was concealed.

I've been in many courthouses over the years & it always amazed me that while everyone had to go through security to get into the court building, many police officers appeared in court with guns hanging outside their uniforms. I can see a state trooper brushing by me in court one day as I sat in the attorney area in front of the bar, his gun at my eye (and hand) level as he passed by. I could so easily have reached out & grabbed that gun, not that I had any desire or intention to do so.

I don't think that court officers in Massachusetts wear sidearms. {5:10 p.m., just heard on NECN that I am correct; court officers in Massachusetts do not carry guns.} I recall seeing batons, but no guns. However, the deputy in Georgia who was escorting this man was wearing a gun.

In addition, and I hesitate to say this, most (not all) of the court officers I have known were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. If they were, they wouldn't have been court officers. It's the lowest level job in law enforcement, one step above security guard. Many court officers, in Massachusetts at least, are patronage appointments -- brothers-in-law of state representatives, etc.

99% of the time the court officers sit around & do nothing. They're processing prisoners from the jails, escorting them into court, then sitting in the courtroom waiting for something to happen. Not much does. I think they get complacent sitting around while nothing happens.

When I was a law student, I worked for the public defender's office. I handled arraignments & cases where the penalty was a sentence of less than 6 months. One day I was assigned a client for arraignment who had been in a bar fight. My client was a big man, a Vietnam veteran who'd been in & out of trouble for years, disheveled, obviously hung over, and angry. I met with him in lockup & explained what would happen at his arraignment, including, as my supervisor had informed me, that he would likely be granted bail of a few thousand dollars. While I was meeting with him, the probation department discovered that he was wanted on several outstanding warrants. When he was brought into the jury box, instead of the simple arraignment I had explained to him, he was "popped" (to use the court vernacular) and the judge ordered he be held on the outstanding warrants, and transferred to Walpole immediately.

My client became enraged. I was standing next to the jury box where he stood. He turned towards ME and lunged at me, his hands reaching for my throat. Suddenly I was flying in the air, over the bar towards the spectators' section. One of the court officers had picked me up & put me down out of harm's way. I was a little put out to be treated so cavalierly -- would a MALE law student have been thrown around like that? -- but also appreciated the rescue.

My client was furious with me. Like I had failed to show up for court after being granted bail on his old cases. Completely misplaced rage. Like the poor judge & court reporter & deputy who were killed today, I was the object of great anger, totally misdirected. I shudder to think what would have happened that day if someone were carelessly standing next to my client, wearing a sidearm.