Adverse Witness
Musings of a New Judge...
AW
Third, I have come to hate Zoom! I never knew anything about Zoom until confronted with the pandemic. It was at that point that my twenty-one year old daughter Sophie taught me the wonders of technology. She patiently walked me through the process and we have not looked back since. Over 800 hearings later, we continue to plod through using Zoom. Thanks to our Dependency Court case manager, Judy Groos, I have a list of things I never thought I would say as a judge, but have stated on the record… • Sir, please put a shirt on • Sir, please put the cigarette out • Sir, please stop vaping • Sir, please stop grossing us all out and kindly spit your wad of tobacco out of your mouth…off camera • M’am, Sir, Grandma, Grandpa….Please turn your video on • M’am, Sir, Grandma, Grandpa…You’re on mute. You’re still on mute. PLEASE press the unmute button. • Sir – are you driving?.....a truck? PLEASE sir, stop your vehicle and park immediately • Sir, M’am….Please sit up. You are in a Court proceeding. You might want to get out of bed. • M’am, I’d suggest if you don’t have a driver’s license, you STOP driving that car. M’am….please don’t say you’re not driving, when it is clear to everyone on this video that you ARE driving • Sir, M’am PLEASE stop moving around and STAND still! • Counsel…please turn your video on. (Reply: Ok – let me put a shirt on first) • Are those chickens I’m hearing? • Is that a goat?
I can’t help wonder how Judge Blackwell and Judge Reece would have liked Zoom. They probably would have loved it! We have all lived and worked through unprecedented challenges since March, 2020 as COVID-19 has ravaged our community, state and country. The Florida Supreme Court, our chief judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit (Judge Mike McHugh) and our local administrative judges (Judge Joe Foster and Judge Rob Crown) have done an incredible job offering support to all of us in the judiciary to assist us in providing services to our community. I was in “in-person” judge for a little more than one (1) month and have been a “Zoom” judge for over five (5) months now. While we are all doing whatever we need to do to conduct these virtual hearings at this time, I am very anxious to return to normal court where all of us can interact on a daily basis. Be safe and thank you for your continued efforts on behalf of the people in our community.
“our judges made it look so easy. When I was a practitioner, I always thought being a judge must be relatively easy .”
September 2020 Vol. 192
15
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