Faith Carrillo
CJ 1010-006
C. Court Visit
4/14/12
I visited The 3rd District Court of West Jordan to learn about court proceedings
first hand. Watching countless episodes of Judge Judy really peaked my interest in
visiting a court house for my term paper. Upon my arrival, I was immediately greeted by
security officers at the front entrance. The security officers were nice and very helpful in
directing me where to go to sit in on court hearings. I believe that I was directed to the
3rd floor to visit the adult court hearings. As I got off the elevator I proceeded to pass
locked doors with numbers by them. I finally found a door that was open, and I walked
in to find another door that led to the actual courtroom.
I realized as I walked into the courtroom, I merely interrupted the people that were
dealing with their proceedings. I noticed that the courtroom was very tiny and did not
look like the courtroom on TV. I must have missed about 10 minutes to the case, but
guessed it to be a preliminary hearing. I noticed that there were no attorneys present but
the guy, the judge and a bailiff. They proceeded to end the case moments after I walked
in. I left a little confused as to what happened. As I left the courtroom I found a
schedule by the courtroom doors outlining the assigned judge, what the case was, who the
guy was, and what he was charged with. The judge assigned to the case was Judge Bruce
Lubeck. The name of the case that was handled was The State of Utah vs. Urban Benito.
Benito was charged with fraud and theft by deception. I had confirmed that the hearing
was short because it was a preliminary hearing. I believe that judge set a trial for Benito
at the end of the court proceeding.
I was only at the courthouse for about a half hour by that time, and was roaming
around the 3rd floor looking for another court in session. I found another one of those
schedules posted outside of a different courtroom door. I read what the case was about
and learned that the same judge was assigned to this court hearing. I notice that there was
a time given on the sheet, showing that the hearing had barely begun. I opened the doors
and entered the courtroom.
Entering the second courtroom was less awkward than the first courtroom. There
were more people present in dealing with the matter. There was even another person
seating and watching the case just like myself. The Judge assigned for this case
happened to be this same judge assigned for Benito. This case was a bench trial over Kim
Criddle vs. Jennette Criddle. Both sides had their attorney’s present. Mark Wiser was
Kim’s attorney while Jay Kessler was Jennette’s attorney. This was a dispute over a
divorce/ annulment rather than a criminal case. I was thinking about leaving when things
began to get interesting. The unhappy couple wanted an annulment and were fighting
over what they wanted to claim as their property. This case was very entertaining; I got to
hear firsthand what they were fighting over. The case lasted from about 8:45 to 11:50.
No final decisions were made and the Judge set a court date for another bench trial.
As I left the courthouse, I gained knowledge of the criminal justice system and
how they proceed in different matters. The courtrooms at The 3rd District of West Jordan
were significantly smaller than the ones on TV. The building was fairly empty of
workers. There was privacy for the courts that were in session. I noticed that there were
warnings before you entered the courtroom such as: dress code, no chewing gum, and
turn off all cellular devices. The judge that I witnessed was not arguing with the people
like Judge Judy occasionally does on her show. The judge was logical and followed the
rules of the criminal justice system. The courtroom proceedings differ from case to case.
The times may vary depending on the case at hand. The two cases that I sat in were a
preliminary hearing and a bench trial. I immediately learned just how quickly a
preliminary hearing can proceed. The bench trial was completely different than the
preliminary hearing. The attorneys were present during the bench trial, and this lasted
much longer than my first visit in the preliminary hearing.
I learned some very important things that day about how the criminal justice
system works and how different court hearings function. I was most impressed with how
everything was so different then how I had imagined. I initially thought that the
courthouse would be very busy and loud; workers would be running around and rushing
to get stuff done. The courthouse that I visited was completely opposite of that. The 3rd
District Court of West Jordan was very mellow and welcoming. There were hardly any
workers that I saw in the building. I was impressed with the environment and how
everything worked. I know now to not expect every courthouse to be busy and court
hearings to be like the ones you see on TV.