by Yolo Judicial Watch Intern
Wednesday 21 July, approx. 9:45am. Department 2.
In a warm gesture, Judge Timothy Fall yesterday made a point to the courtroom audience that people who came in and sat down should take care not to obstruct the view of a person already seated there by sitting directly in front of them.
I was seated in the middle row of the audience in Department 2 watching the proceedings. The audience area was mostly empty. A gentleman came in and sat directly in front of me. Judge Fall noticed this and paused the trial to say: “To the gentleman who has most recently entered the courtroom, it’s not a good idea to sit directly in front of another person and obstruct their view.” He said that there was plenty of space in the audience and that he wanted to make sure everyone had a good view of what was going on. The gentleman nodded and slid to the left, giving me my view back.
A few minutes later, a young lady came in, sat down in the row in front of mine, to the right initially. She then slid to the left and stopped exactly in front of me, the same spot that the other gentleman had first occupied. Judge Fall noted this and again paused the trial to say: “Once again” we have a person sitting directly in front of someone else, obstructing their view. He asked why that spot was so popular with people, obstructing “the poor gentleman’s” view, when there was plenty of space to sit elsewhere. He joked that the court should start charging a fee to sit in that particular spot especially given the current state of the judiciary fund. His comments got a good laugh out of everyone in the courtroom.
It was a lighthearted moment in a trial of otherwise very unpleasant subject matter.
Gee David, do ya think that was just a coincidence? Because, to me it sounds like a little shameless (and very out of character) sucking up by a judge known for his abrasive and mercurial temperment. “Sucking up”,”warm gesture”. “Tomato, tomato.” What’s next? An invite to lunch at the Sutter Club? Please keep us updated!
Please, person whose username is Plankton, don’t become one of those people who see a nasty motive in every decent gesture. Should we never be kind to anyone who writes articles or wields any power, for fear of being seen as suck ups? Do you really think people you find usually “abrasive and mercurial” must be thoughtless 100% of the time, and any thoughtfulness is a pretense and a suck up? That’s a recipe for continuing to think ill of people, no matter what they do.