By Roxanna Jarvis
SACRAMENTO – It was not a happy Friday for one assistant public defender here in Sacramento County Superior Court’s Department 62 recently. It wasn’t a lot of fun for the court, either.
Parties logged into the courtroom were confused and slightly amused after a public defender was involved in two altercations, the first being with her client, and the second with a private attorney.
It was a busy time in “Night Court.”
All parties rushed to get cases through as the court calendar contained more than 100 defendants. The commissioner and deputy district attorney for that evening were working from a remote location, while both public defenders (a woman and her male colleague) worked from within the courtroom, taking turns on cases.
Amid all the commotion, the female public defender found herself in not one, but two arguments.
The first altercation occurred after she was appointed to represent a new client, a young male who was in custody for having warrants for his arrest. Because she was new to the case, the assistant public defender asked to continue the matter over to Nov. 23.
After the details were settled, the public defender walked over to speak with her client, who was inside “the cage” (the caged barrier inside the courtroom to hold defendants currently in custody).
The public defender may not have realized how loud she was speaking because the defendant stopped her after a few words. “Woah, woah, woah, woah. What are you sitting here screaming for?”
“Oh honey, (inaudible)…that’s not screaming,” said the PD.
The defendant asked her again, “Yeah, what [are] you doing all that for?”
“I’m telling you why you’re not getting out today. Here you go, enjoy your sentencing. Have a nice day,” the PD replied while handing him papers. She then walked over to the counsel’s table.
He then responded, “Okay, I’m not asking about why I’m not getting out today.”
In an attempt to move things forward, the bailiff told the defendant when his next arraignment would be, but it didn’t work. “Nah hold on, I need to f****** sit here and [ask] this f****** lady something.” At this point, the deputy district attorney can be seen going from chuckling to donning a shocked look as the words are spoken.
Before anything more could be said, the commissioner pressed that the cases had to be moved forward. “He needs to leave the courtroom. We have to move on to the next defendant.”
From the online live stream, it was obvious that the defendant was still speaking, but the public defender’s male colleague raised his hand to quiet the defendant. “Stop!”
The yelling in the courtroom continued for a short while more before the defendant asked the commissioner for the date. “What’s today’s date?” The microphone for the courtroom was then muted and all went quiet.
“Today’s date is November thirteenth….Friday the thirteenth….Lucky day,” the commissioner said in an almost sarcastic way. Although the audio was muted, the video showed the defendant putting his hand up as he and both public defenders continued to exchange words.
As the defendant began to move toward the door, he turned back to the public defender and appeared to say something to her. She walked closer to the cage and could be seen pushing her glasses up to 
her forehead, leaning in to respond as he walked through the door. As soon as he was gone, she returned the glasses to her face and walked back to the desk.
“So, hopefully, the court reporter put that down as large overtalking,” the public defender’s colleague told the commissioner.
In the second altercation, a private attorney and his client were in an arraignment. The defendant, charged with preventing a witness or victim from making a report to officers and bribery of a witness, was given the opportunity to be released (with conditions) from custody after his hearing. The only requirement was that he turn in his passport to prevent any fleeing from the country.
The private attorney claimed that the passport could be dropped off that same day. “The sister has it and she can be on her way to court. I’ll just wait and give it to your deputy.”
The commissioner agreed to the request and the matter was passed momentarily. After the private attorney left the room, the bailiff (or deputy) walked into the camera’s view. “Your Honor, how does the court plan to take the passport?”
The commissioner replied, “If you can walk it back, I can come pick it up on Monday.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure if I can take that responsibility,” revealed the bailiff.
The commissioner then stated that he could ask one of the public defenders to take the passport to the courthouse instead. The same female public defender from the previous incident was then seen walking into the camera’s view. “No, we’re not gonna take that responsibility either. Particularly after [the defendant’s attorney] indicated to me that I didn’t need to say, ‘Please keep your mask on in Court, sir,’ because he is not a defendant.”
Both the commissioner and a different deputy district attorney showed confused looks as the public defender spoke. “I’m sorry?” asked the commissioner.
“He can walk it over!” yelled the public defender as she began to walk back out of the camera’s view.
“I’m–I–I don’t know what’s going on,” said the commissioner.
The public defender’s male colleague, from the counsel’s table, chimed in. “At this time, your honor, the public defender’s office is not at liberty to be able to do favors …”
“Ok, all you had to say was no,” the commissioner replied, giving off an exasperated laugh.
“Well, as an attorney, that’s against our public charge,” the public defender’s colleague ended.
As the bailiff called a new defendant to be heard, the commissioner could be heard speaking in a low voice to someone else in the room with him. “What was the issue? I don’t understand what the issue was.”
“I’ll explain later, judge” The female public defender could be heard yelling from an unknown area in the courtroom.
“Ok, maybe I didn’t hear something or see something,” continued the commissioner.
“You missed the fireworks, Boss. That’s all,” explained the other public defender.
Roxanna Jarvis is a fourth-year student at UC Berkeley, currently majoring in political science with a minor in public policy. She is from Sacramento, California.
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