Day 3: The trial begins

I am packing my bag the night before to get out early. I am anxious and look forward to drawing more pictures. Over the weekend I bought Mr. Deeds and Winona is suspiciously missing from the marketing of that film. Let the trial begin. I hope I can get a seat. break here...

With daylight savings time it seemed like I got more sleep than I was supposed to. I woke up and ignored the children, jumped in my clothes like a fireman and ran out to my bat mobile before 8a.m. Things were going too good for a Monday. After a few slips of the transmission I got a breath of smoke that obviously meant trouble. So I pulled over into an Arco gas station and filled up on gas while I surveyed the ground and saw the puddle of red liquid. Transmission seal. I hoped it would get me to the store where I could switch into the Cockroach, my brown van, but there was no such luck. I had to abandon the car and walk back to the house while my wife called me a cab. He was the slowest driver on earth and finally I got out and ordered breakfast at my favorite café then ran to get my van. I left the van warming up on the street and ate my food then headed west to the cleaner side of town. I got to the parking lot and the attendant indicated that it was not super crazy which meant I had a chance to get a seat. I parked in the jury area on the 3rd level down went through the routine at the metal detector. All of the cameras were facing the window which meant I had beaten Winona to the trial, I wasn’t late.

Upstairs the crowd of media personalities was larger than normal and the cattle call began. The guard told the crowd to back away from the door. There was other business on the calendar and there was no need for the media to be present for the regular business of the court. In fact the guard closed and locked the door to keep the journalist from getting inside. There were some jokes about why wasn’t the media at the Nick Nolte arraignment. The journalist were forced back along the wall opposite the entrance to the courtroom and in came the an entourage. There slowly moving down the corridor was Winona Ryder dressed completely in black, surrounded by suits she seemed to blend into this scene from Resevoir Dogs. Mark Geragos had his arm around her and she had her arm over his shoulder, even though he is much taller than her it did not seem uncomfortable. He was like her protector and she appeared stronger under his care. They moved slowly to make sure that they were in lock step. Mark Geragos made a comment to a reporter about fifty-to-one odds that I later was to learn was about the upcoming Breeders Cup races, not about the chance of him losing the trial.

Winona panned the crowd with her eyes. I was careful to look at the details of her clothing and avoid any accidental direct look. She wore a black dress that fell just below the knees and was pleated on the front. The collar was high, Victorian almost, with one floral embellishment on each lapel. Black closed high heel shoes. She had a black head band and a black purse that was held closely over her shoulder. There were several black ring bracelets to finish the look. It was a serious look, almost in mourning. Once inside she sat against the back wall away from the main table, as if she was an observer herself. She was sitting next to a water fountain and from time to time a woman in the audience leaned over and made a comment to her.

The two main attorneys and the judge were absent and after a few minutes Gruber, a juror, appeared from nowhere and walked through the courtroom into the hall. Later Mark Geragos came from the back and escorted Winona to the back room too. The courtroom was full. I couldn’t tell if there were more public attendees or if there were more journalist attending today’s proceedings but there definitely were more people today than last week. I came in in front of the journalist because I am a member of the public. I managed to get a seat on the front row in the center with a perfect view of the jury and the defendant. I practiced drawing Winona and my hands seem to be cramping up, like they can’t do it anymore. I keep drawing assuming that the style I desire will come about after several attempts to recreate the people in front of me. I took off my hat without being asked by the baliff, like I was a good student.

The players came back into the room and the jury appeared. The judge told the audience to not chew gum and that his staff spent a significant amount of time cleaning up chewing gum. Also he apologized for the AC situation that did not seem to be working. The judge read the counts and explained to the jury what the meaning of each charge was. Afterwards the prosecution began her opening statement. to be continued with I have time...