I have watched
way too many episodes of law and order. This is why I was so nervous to go to court today. Back in August I was in a hit and run accident and today I finally had to go to court to testify. The ADA called me the day before and kind of prepped me and told me where I needed to go, but I was still extremely nervous. I just kept having images of some Jack McCoy type yelling at me and making me cry on the stand. I was so scared that I had a horrible sleep last night and I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. Jared said a prayer for me and offered to go with me, but I reminded myself that I'm an adult and I'm not the person on trial - so I went by myself. I won't write all of the details, but I just wanted to mention how sad I was sitting in the courtroom. As I walked in the sign on the door read, "All men must have pants around their waists and shirt sleeves tucked in". I'm so naive because I thought to myself, "who would come without wearing pants"? The room was filled with about 45 people waiting for their hearing. Looking around me I could see how poor, uneducated and mislead all of these people were. I watched about 10-15 hearings before my turn to testify came up and while all were adults, most could not read or write and had no job. Finally, it was my turn. I had talked to the ADA earlier and agreed that I was not filing a civil suit and in return Mr. Moore plead guilty. His sentence seemed light - but I wasn't there to see him be punished. I just wanted him to admit what he did. He ended up with about $200 in fines, 24 hours of community service and was ordered to take a defensive driving course. I'm just glad it's over and hope I never have to testify in any kind of trial ever again. My heart was pounding the whole time and it was extremely uncomfortable to have that many
accused criminals watching you at once. I felt like everyone kept staring at me and that I had forgotten to wear clothes that day or something. Hopefully, Mr. Moore has learned his lesson and won't be leaving any more women and children stranded on the side of the road anymore.