Scary day on the job

[Kyung]

So I'm in court. You may not know this, but unlike Superior Court, Federal Court does not have bailiffs or deputies in the courtroom.

So I'm writing away. We're doing calendar stuff. We're on the record. The clerk is reading off the case number and the attorneys are about to come up to introduce themselves. And I'm concentrating for all I'm worth bec. usually this is probably the only time that the attorneys will introduce themselves and you will have no way of knowing who is who unless you pay attention and the clerk whips out those case numbers at top speed.

When all of a sudden,some strange man standing right next to me goes, excuse me. I totally jump and think who the hell are you, what are you doing there? I'm on the record and writing, I cannot listen to you or talk to you at this moment. Of course, I see my writing go all to hell. The judge is kind of staring at this guy. The clerk is motioning him to go to the back of the courtroom.

Do the attorneys stop talking? Oh, no. So I keep writing. The guys walks to the back of the room. Turns out he was the brother-in-law of some pro se defendant.

But seriously, for an instant, I'm thinking where's security.

[Anthony D. Frisolone]

I agree, Kyung, security is pretty lax in federal court. We have Court Security Officers (retired cops) who are deputized U.S. marshals who keep an eye on courtroom security but it doesn't beat having a couple of court officers around like when I was in state court.