January 27th, 2024
Room 146 is the Preliminary Courtroom for Milwaukee County. Compared to the pre-preliminary courtroom I saw a couple weeks ago; it didn’t look that bad. I mentioned my observation to the young woman whom I was accompanying to her court appearance today. She looked around, and then told me,
“Yeah, but this courtroom is inside the county jail building.”
That’s disconcerting idea, especially when the county jail might very well be the next stop for a person after their court appearance. I keep forgetting that this young woman is on a signature bond and is currently “out of custody”. It would not take much for her to transition to “in custody”, and she knows it. A few weeks ago, she fell into that latter category, and it was not a pleasant experience.
There was a couple dozen people waiting to enter the courtroom. Almost all of them were Black. There were only three white defendants. Most of the other white persons in attendance were lawyers, mostly public defenders. The court commissioner and most of the folks working in the courtroom were Black. Half of the police there were Black. The young woman and I were part of a small white minority.
Today was the woman’s second court date. She is charged with “battery on a police officer”, which is a felony, and it tends to get people’s attention. She is staring at possible prison time, and that makes each appearance a time of anxiety and stress. Nobody tells her what will happen during her court appearance, and perhaps nobody actually knows. The original plan was for her to make a plea today, but that didn’t happen. The public defender’s office had not assigned her a lawyer, so her hearing was adjourned for cause. Until she gets counsel, she won’t enter a plea. Until she enters a plea, her case cannot move forward.
The uncertainty is overwhelming, both for the young woman and for anyone else who cares about her future. She can’t make any long-term plans, and neither can I. She has a very young son, and he needs her. My wife and I care for this boy fulltime, so we also have skin in the game.
We kind of figured that nothing would get resolved at this preliminary hearing, but we didn’t know that. From our experience with the criminal justice system, damn near anything can happen, and it often does. There was a question in my mind about whether the young woman would be coming back with me or if I would be alone in the car on the ride home.
In a sense, the young woman dodged a bullet this afternoon. She is still free to spend time with her son. She can still go to her treatment sessions. Within certain limits, she can do whatever she wants. I bought Chinese takeout food after we got home. We sat around the table and ate. We laughed and joked. The young woman and her son had fun together. It was like we had collectively exhaled a sigh of relief. We can live relatively normal lives for a while.
She won’t see the inside of that courtroom for another three weeks, and then the legal process resumes. In the days before her next court appearance, the anxiety and tension will build in the house. It will reach a fever pitch on her court date. I will take her to that room again, and once again she will roll the dice. She got away this time, but the next visit may end very differently. In the end, whenever that is, some version of justice will prevail, and she will face the consequences of her actions.
She won’t dodge the bullet forever.
Frank is Emptiness 