Courtroom Observation Essay: Assault And Battery Case

One day, I went to the superior court in Boston and to the District court. One of the cases that I observed at the Superior court was a case of assault and battery that happened at a train station on August 2014. an African American male who pushed a young male on a train track at South Station MBTA. During the court session, everyone gathered together to hear the assault and battery case that take place at the train station.

The African-American man accused of assault and battery. This subject, identified as a defendant who suffered psychological problems such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and ADHD. The lawyer who presented the defendant claimed that was not right in his state of mind when he pushes the victim at the train rail. The

defense lawyer portraits the defendant as a person who did attend college, however, in fluctuating courses provoked by loss of interest, and achieved no type of degree. The defendant is married, even though there is no considerable degree of closeness or acquaintance with his spouse. He is an ex-soldier of the armed services, but he was later cleared for medical reasons after serving for a few years. In spite of a lack of medical indication, upholds that he still agonizes from injuries continued at this time. Even though the defendant pursues to declare a middle-class level of ease, his revenue is insignificant and deficiency is more precisely his financial state. Last of all, and as will be further investigated through reference to other features of his life, much of the defendant’s behavior, in addition to the few activities in which he engages, reflects a deficiency of any drive whatsoever and an extreme reluctance to become involved, even informally, with others. Base on my opinion about the defendant in almost every arena by which general human behavior is measured, the defendant leads a definitely antisocial existence and one furthermore obviously unpleasant to those in interaction with him according to what was mentioned in the courtroom.

The Arrival
The courthouse itself was busy on a Tuesday morning. Pretty much every courtroom was filled, some with trials for minor traffic defilements, others were actual murder trials. However, I was there to observe an assault case. In this case, the defendant was a mental patient. He not only was a mental patient, but he was just released from a psych hospital.

The Crime
I listen closely because I was curious to know what this man did. I got my answer. The defendant actually mugged the victim while at the train station. The story goes that the defendant was standing behind the victim. While standing behind him, he watched as they had their headphones on listening to music. Next the defendant was standing behind this person and actually pushed the victim at the train track.
Witnesses
People stood around but did nothing. There were a lot of witnesses at the train station, but none of them lifted a finger. They did not help the victim out at all from what I gathered from the evidence being present. The victim testifies and gave his side of the story, but the victim also says that he was shocked. They were in shock because those that witnessed the entire incident just stood and watched. It took him about 5 seconds to climb out of train track cause he heard the announcement about the train is coming by none of the witnesses helped him even to do that.

Plight of Victim
In the meantime, after that the victim asked the defendant, “What’s wrong with you?” Then he thought the defendant was strange. He appeared to be off, so he just decided not to push the issue. He just took the train, made it home and explained to his mother what take place. She explained that something had to be done. The victim stated that his mother insisted a report be filed. He obeyed, changed his sneaker, to get comfortable because his ankle was aching. The victim went to the hospital and got an x-ray and found out it was just sprain an ankle.

The Video
At about 11 o’clock, the video was brought in the courtroom. I observed closely to the video that was shown in the courtroom and heard the victim mention that when they were at the train station, the defendant was acting bizarre. In the video, I observed the defendant; take took off his shirt and sock. When the train came, he boarded it. I observed that there was another altercation that involved him not paying the fair so transit police were notified called, and informed about the situation. They were giving a detailed description of him. The first officer got there and made him get off the train. Backup was called, and his partner arrived for help.

Police Officers
In the courtroom around noon, the police officers were called in to give their account.

I observed the officer claim that when he questions the defendant, he felt as if he was off. The victim gives a full detail report to the officer, describing what the person looked like and everything. One of the officers had taken his picture, and sent one to the transit police, to see if it was the same person they were looking for. In the meantime, the woman officer was interrogating him about where he has been and of prescription medication that was discovered in his bag. However, the defendant lied about why his taking the medicine. I observed that the police mentioned the defendant was very yielding and being extremely corporative. The officer mentioned that he took him to the hospital for psych assessment being that he was acting odd, so they kept him because of strange behavior. I observed the officer mention that from there, they got a report that the defendant was the same person they were looking at in the pictures. It was at the hospital that they arrested the defendant.

Doctor Evaluation

At about 1:00 PM, they brought evaluation reports into the courtroom. Defendant got assessed by two different doctors and both came up with the same conclusion that he suffered from bipolar

disorder.

Further Observation
All this information was presented at the court in front of a judge. I observed that there was no jury present, a no family of both parties being present. It was just the prosecutor, victim, defense lawyer, and police officers who were called and questioned, plus the defendant. The court officers, and no witnesses, just the videotape of what occurred at the train station, and the pictures that one of the officers took off the defendant for the case being exhibited.

Opinion
In my opinion after seeing that video of the defendant pushing the victim, I was shocked to the point that I was crying. I cried because I actually thought that the victim was dead from that fall. Later, the prosecutor explained to me that the victim was fine. He mentioned that the victim just had a sprained ankle. He also shared some particulars about the cases of what was going to occur before the judge. Basically, they were reviewing the video before showing the evidence to the judge. Which was very kind and nice of him to come around and check on me being that I was stunned by what I saw.

Then, from watching the video I realized no one ever helps the victim at the train station. Even in court I also notice that not one person from the train station showed as a witness for the case. Then the moment that clicked for me was what the professor talked about in class. He mentioned moral issues, and then I was astonished that no one, in fact, helped or reported anything to the police of what happened. Everyone was clearly not concerned, just going about their own business. Another thing that I observed from the video is that the camera was able to capture everything, the time and the date when all that occurs. I realize that cameras are all Over the place now since crimes are happening more frequently. This includes the train station, so basically, everybody is being watched everywhere. Another thing that I realized was that before I used to stand close waiting for the train, but after watching that video I choose to stop. I realized that some people are insane. The professor even talked in the class about “who’s sane and who’s insane in this class”. It really got me thinking sometimes you do not essentially know a person, so that means they can just snap at any moment. So as a Christian person, I just pray every day. I pray without ceasing. So in the end, the commonwealth finds the defendant not guilty. Basically, this case was to discover if the defendant was in his right set of mind when the crime took place. All five of the officers stated that defendant did not appear to be in his right mind when inquiring him, but he did get sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. This treatment lasted for 48 days and he will have to come be back in court in January.