That courtroom looked normal that morning. The wooden benches were the same. The bright lights were the same too. There was the silence that always comes before a hearing starts. Nobody expected anything to happen. The case of the courtroom was supposed to be an one, a short hearing and then it would be time to move on with the courtroom proceedings. The courtroom was ready for the hearing to start in the courtroom.
The judge walked into the room slowly and then he sat down in his chair. The judge took his time to get comfortable before he started doing his job. The judge was ready to listen to what people had to say.
He looked calm. Maybe he was a little tired. He had a lot of cases that day. This case was not special when you looked at the papers. The file was really thin it had a few pages. The charges were simple. There was nothing about the case according to the list. He had cases that day and this case was just another one. The charges, in the case were not serious.
The criminal was already standing on the side.
This young man was probably in his twenties. He was wearing a jail dress that was way too big for him. The young man was really thin. He looked like he could break easily. His head was, down the time. The young man did not try to look tough or anything. He was not angry either. The young man was just really quiet.
The lawyer started talking.
The man explained the case quickly. He explained it quickly. It was like the man wanted to finish the case and then leave the courtroom. The man said the evidence was very clear. The confession was already written down. The man did not think they needed to have a discussion, about the case. The man asked the court to move with the case.
The judge listened carefully to what was being said.
No reaction.
The judge asked something that was really unexpected. The judge said something that caught everyone off guard. What the judge asked was, out of the blue. The judges question was something that nobody saw coming.
He asked how the confession was taken.
The man wanted to know what happened when the confession was taken.
He was really interested, in the confession. How it was taken by the people who did it.
The lawyer stopped talking for a moment. The lawyer was quiet, for a while.
The man said that the document was signed at the police station. He did this according to the procedure. The police station is where it was signed. Everything, about the process was correct. The document was. Everything is okay.
The Judge nodded slowly.
Then he looked at the criminal. He was looking at the criminal. The man was checking out the criminal.
The man asked the person directly “Do you know what the paper you signed means?”
The criminal lifted his head for the time. He had not done this before. The criminal was now looking around. The criminal seemed very nervous.
The mans eyes looked really confused. His eyes did not seem to understand what was going on. The eyes looked confused.
The man said no.
One word only.
The courtroom changed its mood instantly. The atmosphere in the courtroom was different now. The mood, in the courtroom had changed in that moment.
The lawyer tried to say something. The judge raised his hand. There was silence.
The judge asked the criminal again this time he spoke slowly. He wanted to know if someone had taken the time to explain the papers to the criminal before he signed them. The judge was really asking if the criminal understood what the papers meant before he put his name on them.
The criminal shook his head.
The man said that the police told him he had to sign the paper or the problem would get worse. He said that he does not read English well. The man thought the paper was a simple record that is all.
The persons English was not very good. They would start a sentence. Then just stop in the middle.. Even though they did that it was still pretty easy to understand what the person meant by the English they did use. The English they used was enough to get their point across even if the sentences did not always make sense or sound right.
The public leaned forward.
The police officers stayed still but they were very alert. They were watching everything around them waiting to see what would happen next. The police officers were ready to move at any moment.
The judge leaned back in his chair. He looked really comfortable. The judge was sitting in his chair with his back leaned way.
He took a look at the file again. He went through the pages one by one. Then he saw something that was really small. The file did not have the interpreters name on it. There was no note that explained what the file was about. All he could see was a signature, on the file. The signature was the thing that stood out to him about the file.
The judges face changed.
The man asked the police officer to step. He wanted the police officer to come closer. The police officer was told to step by the man.
The man asked who was in the room when the person was confessing. He wanted to know who was present, during the confession.
The officer answered confidently. He said that the police procedure was followed. The criminal was told what was going on. The officer said that the criminal was informed about everything. The police procedure was really followed by the officer and the criminal was informed.
The judge asked if the explanation was written in a language that the criminal could understand.
The officer hesitated for a moment. The officer was not sure what to do. The officer just stood there.
That hesitation was loud.
The judge asked again.
The officer said that he was not sure.
The courtroom fell completely silent.
The lawyer tried to say something. The judge told him to be quiet again. The judge did not want the lawyer to interrupt. The lawyer was trying to talk. The judge stopped him. The judge was, in charge. The lawyer had to listen to him.
The judge looked at the criminal. He was staring at the criminal. The criminal was standing in front of the judge.
The person was wondering about the mans background. He wanted to know more, about the mans background.
The criminal spoke softly to me. He told me that he grew up in a town. The criminal said he did not finish school he left early. The criminal had to work labor jobs to make money. The criminal said he can only read a bit of English but he does not understand legal English.
The man looked really embarrassed when he said this. He was saying something. He looked embarrassed. The man saying this looked embarrassed.
The man said that he never had a lawyer before. He thought that signing a paper was a thing to do. The man said that he did not know better, about the lawyer and the paper. He just thought that signing the paper was something that people did. The man said that he never had a lawyer to tell him what to do.
The judge closed the file slowly. The judge took his time when he closed the Judges file.
The sound of the file closing felt really heavy.
The judge spoke carefully now. He wanted to make sure the judge said the thing. The judge thought about what the judge was going to say. Then the judge spoke carefully now.
The man said that a confession is a serious thing. He explained that a court of law cannot just rely on a piece of paper if the person who is signing it does not really understand what it says. The man also said that the law is strict. At the same time it is also fair. He made it clear that the law is serious and the confession is a thing that should not be taken lightly. The law and the confession are both things that need to be understood properly.
The lawyer looked really nervous now. The lawyer seemed to be getting more and more nervous.
The public whispered quietly and then they stopped.
The judge made a decision that the confession has to be taken out of the record. The confession is no longer part of the record because the judge said so. This means the confession will not be used in the case anymore. The judge ordered this. Now the confession is gone from the record.
That really shocked everyone. The news was a surprise and it shocked everyone.
The lawyer protested. He said that the case will totally collapse. The lawyer was really worried about the case. The case is very important, to the lawyer. The lawyer does not want the case to collapse.
The judge said that justice is not a shortcut. The judge made it clear that justice is not something that can be rushed or taken lightly. Justice is a process that takes time and the judge wants to make sure it is done properly. The judge talked about how justice’s not a shortcut and that people should not try to hurry it up.
The criminal was really scared. He just stood there shaking. The criminal did not know what to do. The criminal was shaking a lot.
He did not understand fully what happened.. He knew that something changed with the situation. He was aware that the things were different now with the event that occurred. The man felt that something was not the same, after what happened with the situation and the event.
The judge ordered an investigation into the matter. They assigned aid to help with the case. It was decided that an interpreter is mandatory, for the proceedings. The judge then postponed the hearing.
Criminal eyes filled with tears.
It is not happiness that I feel. I feel relief mixed with fear. The relief is there. The fear is also there mixed with the relief.
The judge looked at him more.
The man said that the court does not punish people for not knowing something. He also said that the system is in place to protect peoples rights not to take advantage of people who do not know something, about the law. The court system and the law are supposed to help people not hurt them because of their ignorance of the law and the court system.
The man got up from his seat. Then he walked away. He was gone. The man left the room.
The courtroom was completely silent.
People did not move away.
The police then guided the criminal away.. The criminals posture was different now. It looked less heavy. The criminal did not seem heavy as before. The police were still, with the criminal.
Outside people were talking to each other in voices. Some of the people were angry. Some of the people were really impressed, by what they saw. Then there were people who were confused they did not know what to make of it.
That day the case did not end.
Something big. It is really important. This thing that happened is something I want to tell you about. The important thing that happened is what I am talking about.
The people in the courtroom figured out that one persons signature can be hiding a lot of truths. The courtroom saw that one signature is not always what it seems it can be hiding truths, about the person who signed it and the courtroom learned that one signature can hide many different truths.
And one simple question can break whole story.