If someone asked you to picture a judge’s chambers, you might imagine a room from a “Law & Order” episode, with quilted leather furniture, towering…
Posts published in “Courthouse Project”
In defiance of the sign outside, marking its maximum capacity at 16 people, Courtroom 7A was packed. Twenty-five prospective jurors occupied almost every bench not…
Judge Doretta Walker glared down at two women with matching magenta-streaked braids who stood before her in Courtroom 4D – in the Durham County Courthouse.…
It’s the fourth week of school and I’m crying in my editor’s well-lit office. It’s nothing serious — I cry frustratingly easily, often about things…
In the Durham County Courthouse, a courtroom is a place for trials, arguments and rulings. It’s where attorneys lose cases and defendants receive jail time,…
Michael Ray Johnson, 34, has been waiting in jail for more than 200 days. Three years have passed since he broke into a woman’s home…
Ralph Pilgrim slumped into a seat next to his public defender at the front of Courtroom 5A. With an elbow on the arm of the…
It’s a Monday morning in Durham County’s eviction court, and Joseph McMoil’s home of four years is on the line. McMoil, a stout 51-year-old man,…
Traffic court is full. People sit chin in hand, eyelids heavy. Some stomp out of the courtroom, then return a few minutes later. Others grimace, checking…
Judge Michael O’Foghludha tried to calm the defendant who wore the mask with the backwards swastika. “Don’t get upset,” the judge said in soothing…