[gemy]

RAchel my only experience in a courtroom was when I was a witness for the prosecution for a major theft from the company I worked for. I went to the courtroom at the time I was told to arrive and my case was not coming up right away. So I decided to watch the trials that were being prosecuted that day.

After seeing two trials which took about 30 minutes for minor theft, it became clear to me that the defense lawyers approach was to create doubt that the article stolen was the actual property of the vendor/store/owner. And then something interesting happened the defense lawyer turned to look at the visitors observing the proceedings and ask the judge to clear the courtroom! To this day I don't know why he did this but I have my suspicions. Did he suspect that a witness for his grand theft case was in the courtroom? That one is my best guess.

I was the first witness for the prosecution and my testimony was very short clear and to the point. I categorically indentified through specific markings on the product that this was indeed owned by my company. Two things happened after my testimony the defense approached the judge with the DA they had a conversation, the trial was adjourned; exiting from the witness box an observer stopped me and said you made an excellent witness!! Whoohoo score one for the good guys. I must admit to a few qualms as I did not know who exactly was charged - was it Mafia or organized crime lords - would they go after me? You see what was stolen from us was over $100K worth of finished goods. I was at that time the manager of the finished goods warehouse.