{"id":5804,"date":"2021-10-22T13:54:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T13:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=5804"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:53:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:53:06","slug":"a-courthouse-moment-everything-in-there-is-serious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2021\/10\/22\/a-courthouse-moment-everything-in-there-is-serious\/","title":{"rendered":"A Courthouse Moment: ‘Everything in there is serious.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judge Doretta Walker glared down at two women with matching magenta-streaked braids\u00a0 who stood before her in Courtroom 4D \u2013 in the Durham County Courthouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the women, Sekia Pegram, had violated her probation and subsequently failed to appear in court. And Walker was not happy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cYou could go to jail for being late today,\u201d said Walker, a District Court judge. \u201cYou\u2019re in custody for 45 days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Durham, judges are elected officials. While they are accountable to their constituents, in the day-to-day churn of the criminal legal system, Walker reigns over the courtroom.<\/span> Her thick, melodic voice fills the space.<\/span> She commands. She nudges. She scolds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love helping people,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI love holding people accountable. I love making sure that they know that they need to do right.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

That morning, she wore her black robe, and her favorite matching black mask \u2014 the one imprinted with \u201cJudge Walker\u201d in bold white lettering.<\/span>\"\"There are three Black female judges up here,\u201d she said, \u201cand a lot of people get us confused. So, I put my name.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a decade of experience on the bench, Walker sees cases from trespassing to theft on a daily basis. <\/span>Felonies and other serious cases <\/span>may pass through District Court up to Superior Court, but Walker understands the power she wields.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe consequences of a conviction, everything is serious,\u201d she said, enunciating each syllable. \u201cTo me, everything in there is serious.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In court, Walker defended the 45-day sentence she gave Pegram.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe gets every single day that she gets. I was nice to her. I can\u2019t be nice to people, and she spits in my face,\u201d she told Pegram\u2019s public defender, Abigail Holloway, who protested the ruling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bailiff gently guided Pegram to a seat on the bench to the right of Walker and handcuffed her. She rested her cuffed hands in her lap atop acid wash jeans, and Pegram <\/span>glowered<\/span> as the loss of her freedom sank in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Judge Walker sets the pace of her courtroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have something for me to do?\u201d she repeated throughout the rainy September morning.\u00a0 \u201cI know you have something for me to do now. At least this gives us something to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her eagerness sometimes edged into impatience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWere you just over there looking at a piece of paper?\u201d Walker asked Assistant District Attorney Andrew House, annoyed that he had not presented her with a legal argument yet in Pegram\u2019s hearing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier that morning, one defendant apparently left before his case was addressed. Walker counted him as failing to appear when his case was called, although he was present earlier.\u00a0 Her hands are tied if those on the docket are not in her courtroom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWho are we going to deal with now?\u201d she asked as she inclined her head to the three lean men who filed in during Pegram\u2019s hearing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They sat in a row, cuffed hands in their laps. Two wore rust-colored uniforms, and the third wore a bright orange jumpsuit. The \u201cjail line,\u201d Judge Walker called them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, they\u2019ll miss lunch,\u201d Walker said, hurrying House, as he rifled through papers between cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, a witness spoke in the case of Gary Burton, one of the men on the jail line. Burton faced one count of attempted larceny and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker asked the witness what he wanted to see from the court system.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll let this court do what it wants to,\u201d he said sheepishly, wearing a graphic T-shirt tucked into blue jeans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpeak loud,\u201d the judge said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Walker asked the stout middle-aged man what he meant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all human,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all make mistakes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He just wanted Burton to be held accountable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cYou are so nice,\u201d Walker told him. \u201cYou are a wonderful person.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ABOVE:<\/strong> \u00a0District Court Judge Doretta Walker. Photo by Josie Vonk, The 9th Street Journal<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge Doretta Walker glared down at two women with matching magenta-streaked braids\u00a0 who stood before her in Courtroom 4D \u2013 in the Durham County Courthouse.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[91,173],"class_list":["post-5804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courthouse-project","tag-district-court","tag-judges","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nA Courthouse Moment: 'Everything in there is serious.' - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2021\/10\/22\/a-courthouse-moment-everything-in-there-is-serious\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Courthouse Moment: 'Everything in there is serious.' - 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