In Durham County Courtroom 7C recently, prosecutor Mary Jude Darrow scans a docket of first appearances, bond hearings, and probation violations. Outside, a pair of…
Posts tagged as “A courthouse moment”
A broad-shouldered, thick-calved man gently followed his public defender toward the mahogany podium in between the defense and prosecution’s desks in Courtroom 4D. Staring down…
On September 14, just before 2 p.m., Courtroom 7D buzzes. Attorneys chatter in the well; family members, religious leaders, and local organizers share smiles in…
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…
Outside the closed doors of Courtroom 6A one recent Tuesday morning, 24 potential jurors waited in a line, single file. They shared anxious glances with…
Fifteen years ago, Edelmar Arnoldo Borrayes Cifuentes immigrated from Guatemala to Cary, North Carolina. He got a job in construction, found a house, and made…