Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 30, 2010
I Swear ...
Did she really say that?
Vic Fleming
It may have been the last case of the day.
It wasn’t even on the docket, in fact. Little Rock Traffic Court allows walk-ins.
The courtroom was almost empty.
The female defendant was weeks early for her plea and arraignment date.
Sometimes the folks who come in early provide an element of surprise. This one did.
“You’re charged with careless driving. How do you plead?”
“Guilty.”
“Do you have any statements to make before the court pronounces sentence?”
“Excuse me?”
“You have a right to make a statement before you are sentenced.”
[Blank stare.]
“It’s called the right of allocution. You get to tell the judge whatever you think the judge needs to know in order to get your sentence correct.
“A court looks at four factors, primarily, in determining sentence: remorse, restitution, prior punishment and record.
“Not all four factors will always apply.
“A person who says, ‘I’m sorry I swerved off the road and knocked down my neighbor’s fence. I’ve accepted full responsibility, and I took a day off from work to repair the fence myself. Taking the day off cost me $100. But, before this incident, I had never before received a ticket and have no criminal history’ hits a home run. “That person has touched all four bases.”
“Well, I ran into a car. And the other driver was injured. And I have now been sued for loss of contortion,” she said.
“Loss of contortion, huh?”
The judge kept a straight face.
(Where was that snort-and-snicker sound coming from?)
“Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
Sentence was pronounced by a judge who needs a vacation.
•••
This column was written on Monday morning, July 26, 2010, from the road.
I left Sunday at the crack of dawn. Atlanta is an easy one-day drive from Little Rock.
Today I will have lunch in Charlotte with the newlyweds. Then drive on to Williamsburg, where I will speak to a breakfast Rotary Club Tuesday morning.
I will dine with a friend in Pleasantville Tuesday evening and then drive on to Southbridge, whose noon Rotary Club will get to hear on Wednesday what the James City County Rotary Club heard on Tuesday.
Thursday and Friday will find me in Jamaica, Vt., with a group of friends I went to college with.
Saturday will find me in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and then it’s on to Boston for a couple of days with the not-so-newlyweds.
Before it’s over, a two-week vacation will have been had.
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of
Law. Contact him at vicfleming@att.net.
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