It Happened In Hudson City Court -- "In The Interest Of Justice!"

One of the most puzzling things to me about Hudson City Court proceedings (and there are a few!) is that there is no such thing as traffic court day -- that is, one day of the week or month where traffic violations, and nothing else, are handled.  As it is, showing up to court to get a simple traffic violation taken care of might find you waiting and watching all sorts of other court cases.  On rare occasions, there can be drama and amusement while one waits one's turn to face the judge, as was the case last Wednesday in Judge Connor's court.

It was a full courtroom at the scheduled 9:00 start time.  As is usual, the judge was late to take his seat at the bench, at about 9:15.

The first case on the docket was a gentleman who was appearing for the second time on a ticket for speeding at 43 mph in a 20 mph zone.  The judge asked the defendant if he had contacted the DA's office to get a plea deal, which he was instructed to do a month earlier in front of Connor.  The defendant said that he had not applied to the DA's office for a plea deal.  Judge Connor decided to give him another month to do so, and adjourned the case once more, this time to June 21st. 

The second case was similar:  The judge adjourned a failure to stop ticket case for the second time -- this time to June 28th.  This defendant also had not reached out to the DA's office as he was instructed to do so in April.

5 or 6 more traffic violation cases were handled, then the judge called in a defendant who had been waiting in the holding area.  Led in by a uniformed HPD officer, the fella was in handcuffs and looked pretty weary.  Needless to say, this was no simple traffic violation matter.  The time was exactly 9:33 on a Wednesday morning with at least 13 more people with traffic tickets waiting to get the hell out of the courtroom and get on with their days. 

The prisoner sat in the same seat everyone else does in front of Connor, and he had a tough time staying still, having apparently been picked up the night before.  He was there for assault (2 counts), robbery, grand larceny (3 counts), and possibly more.  There was a minute or two of discussion between the Assistant DA and the judge, then at least 2 minutes of silence as the judged "looked at the defendant's rap sheet" to figure out his past convictions, of which there were many.  Not a word was spoken for 2 minutes while 13 people waited to get their traffic tickets adjourned or settled.  Then a second HPD officers came in the court and stood by the defendant, as he seemed agitated.  The judge proclaimed to the defendant and his attorney "I'm going to hold you without bail."  Then a third HPD officer, also uniformed and armed, entered the court through the same back door and stood by, also as if on security detail.  3 HPD officers, one handcuffed defendant.  (There are always 2 court security workers standing by in court, as there were on Wednesday, neither of whom work for HPD).  I recognized each of the HPD officers as those who can regularly be seen driving around town in HPD cruisers.

A minute or two later, Judge Connor told the defendant, who was on his way to jail without bail, that he needed to fill out a contact form.  The defendant said out loud, "I ain't fillin' out no contact form.  I just want to go to jail."  He refused to fill out the form, then was led out of the court by the 3 HPD officers at 9:50.  17 minutes, 3 HPD officers, 13 people waiting their turn.

Then Judge Connor commenced a conversation about Hudson's most illustrious defendant, Michael Madison, who was once again not present for yet another of his many recent adjourned court dates.  Connor picked up Madison's obscenely thick file and dropped it on his bench with a loud thud, as if to say, "Here we go again with this guy."  Connor said that Madison had been in Claverack Court the evening before, where the judge there had found him "incompetent to stand trial."  Judge Connor opined that if Claverack found Madison incompetent, Hudson City Court may have to drop all charges against him.  

Mention was then made that instead of prison, Madison may have to be sent to the State Mental Health Department in Albany to be evaluated.  (According to what Assistant DA Carl Whitbeck told me several months ago, this was attempted a few years ago and it failed miserably.)  Connor adjourned Madison's cases (he has two attorneys) to June 27th after Whitbeck agreed to try to figure out how to handle the Madison situation in regard to the incompetency finding in Claverack.  Simply put, neither the Hudson Court, the Claverack Court nor the Columbia County Court and DA's Office knows how to handle or what to do with Michael Madison.  It is a truly absurd situation and an embarrassing spectacle. 

13 people with simple traffic tickets sat through and listened to all of this.  The time was 9:55 when Connor called up one of those remaining 13. 

The defendant was in court for a ticket referred to as "driving with obstructed view."  This was the defendant's 2nd appearance in court for the ticket, having been instructed a month earlier by Connor to contact the DA's office by email about a possible plea deal on the ticket.  "Did you reach out to the DA's office about a plea deal?"  Judge Connor asked the seated defendant.  

"I sent them all the information, but I haven't heard back from anyone about it.  I sent in the abstract and everything," he responded.

Connor looked at the Assistant DA as if to ask, "What should we do?"  Whitbeck responded that he would look into where things stood at a later time.  Connor was about to adjourn the case for a second time when he asked the defendant, "What exactly was obstructing your view in your car?"

The defendant responded, "The officer found air fresheners hanging on my rear-view mirror."

At least 4 people seated in the court let out laughs, as did I.

Connor accepted the defendant's explanation without further inquiry, then said, "I'm going to dismiss this case in the interest of justice."  The defendant thanked the judge and then left the court exactly one hour after he had arrived.

At 10:00, one hour after most of them had arrived, there were at least 12 people with traffic tickets waiting their turn, but I had seen and heard enough for one day in the quasi-traffic court day in the Hudson City Court.