Overall Experience

Brockton District Court Internship Summer 17

Allison Cerrato
 My overall experience at the Brockton District Court is one I will not forget. I

made great connections with some of the Justices as well as people in the clerk and

probation offices. During my time at the internship I was able to visit various types

of court cases and hearings. I got to witness a jury trial, arraignment, small claims,

drug court, pre-trial, and supplementary process. I also got the honor to work on a

project for Judge Julie Bernard.

The most interesting thing I did at the courthouse was sit in on the jury trial.

This is something you see on television but a lot of people dont actually get to see

these things happen in front of their eyes. I learned about how the jury is picked and

the different components that happen before, during, and after the trial. A panel of

jurors were brought into the courtroom and from there they selected. After the

panel was chosen there was a short recess and when the court came back from this

recess the defense attorney said there was a problem. One of the jurors had sat

behind the defendant and his defense attorney as they were talking about the case

so he was worried that the juror might have heard something.

When it was time for the trial to start the first thing that happened was the

court officer came in and said, All rise for the jury. Everyone was read the oath and

then the action started. The Assistant District Attorney read the facts of the case.

The basic facts were that the defendant had been caught during an undercover buy

and this buy was near a school zone. She then addressed the jury in her opening

statement basically stating the road map of the trial. Then the defense attorney did

the same thing. After the facts were read and opening statements were made the

ADA called in the first witness. This was the detective that was involved directly in
the undercover buy. The ADA asked him basic questions about his background in

the criminal justice system and about the buy. She had a photo of the intersection

near the school and the buy and the court entered this into evidence. When the

detective got the drugs he did a field test he stated to an answer of a question. The

defense attorney quickly objected to this question and answer because field tests

arent always reliable and that is something he felt the jury should know. Then the

ADA showed the court the drugs (heroin) and entered that into the evidence of the

court. After the ADA had no further questions the defense attorney got to ask his

questions. He basically asked questions about the procedure of the undercover buy

such as; was the vehicle searched, was the cooperating witness searched, and if

pictures were taken. The next witness was called in; he was the head of the narcotics

unit. Again, basic background questions were asked by the ADA but this time the

defense attorney had no questions to ask. The third witness was called onto the

stand; she worked in the state police lab. Just like the first witness, the ADA asked

questions and the defense attorney followed up with more questions. After the

defense attorney had no further questions it was time to wrap up for the day.

The next day everything was picked back up where it was left off. Another

witness was called in, this time it was a detective for Brockton Police Department.

The same routine was followed until witness number five was called to the stand, he

was the lieutenant for Brockton Police Department and he worked in the school

division. The ADA asked her questions but during this the judge asked the jury to

step out because there was a question about the relevance of some questions. Since

there was no evidence of where the school zone started the defense attorney
thought questions about boundaries of the school shouldnt be admissible to the

jury. But, the judge said that the lieutenant was allowed to testify about the

boundaries because of his background with the school but this was to a certain

extent in which the judge would decide. The commonwealth rested which meant no

further questioning and the defense attorney motioned to determine a finding. The

court took a recess and then the ADA and defense made their closing arguments.

First up was the defense, this attorney made very clever points about the case. This

could have made the jury question if there was an actual investigation of if that

word was just thrown around by Brockton Police Department. The first point made

was there was no surveillance. Usually with an undercover buy or investigation

there is backup a street or two away from the scene, for this case there was nothing

of that sort. There was also no record of the vehicle or cooperating witness nor did

this cooperating witness show up to testify. The ADA then made her closing

statements; she made points to the jury that drugs were in fact sold and near a

school zone. She made the jury not think about the points that the defense made by

restating the facts from the police report. Unfortunately I didnt get to witness the

verdict but before my time was up at the internship I did ask the clerk magistrate if

there had been a verdict. The defendant was found not guilty. In my opinion I agreed

with the jury, although I do think the defendant did sell these drugs but I felt the

commonwealth didnt have sufficient evidence to prove him guilty and everyone is

innocent until proven guilty. In my opinion there just wasnt enough evidence and

sufficient searches of persons or vehicles for the defendant to be proven guilty.

 Drug court was also a very great experience that I didnt know about until I

went and saw it all. I was invited to staffing, which happens before the judge enters

the court. Staffing is when the judge meets with the probation officers of the

participants in drug court and they go down the list and talk about each member.

The judge will ask questions like how is John doing or is John in a sober home yet

and the probation officers talk about how that person is doing, where they are

working, if they are going to school, how they have been feeling. If a participant

wasnt in a sober home yet the probation officers talked with the judge about

possible options. After the whole list has been gone through they enter the

courtroom. Drug court isnt formal at all, first names are used and a lot of the people

are happy. The judge calls the participants up one by one and basically asks the

same questions he asked to the probation officers in staffing. The judge then usually

gives the participants some word of advice to keep them inspired and on the right

track.

After drug court, Judge Vitali said Amanda and I could come back to his office

in the judges lobby and ask him any questions and to just overall re-cap drug court. I

felt that drug court was awesome and it really opened my eyes to the profession of

being a probation officer. I saw just a glimpse of what they do and I thought it would

be a great fit for me. Judge Vitali went on to tell us about how he takes drug court

home with him every night meaning out of everything that happens all day he thinks

about drug court even outside of the courtroom. He said he worries about the

participants because he has built a connection with them trying to get them on the

right track and keep them there. I think drug court is very effective because it gives
these recovering addicts a place to vent and build friendships and bonds with

people in the same boat as them.

Sitting in on small claims hearings wasnt the most interesting but it is

something that matters and could happen to anyone. Small claims are everyday

people trying to get money compensation for damage done. There was one hearing

where a woman bought expensive hair extensions to be put in her hair and she went

to a salon and the hairdresser took the expensive hair and put in the salon brand

hair. After the hearing I asked Tom Brophy who is one of the clerks for small claims

if something like this happens a lot and he told me people bring others to court for

things like this often. I never knew things like this actually happened, I figured it was

all an act for television.

Another interesting part of the court I got to experience was pre-trial. A lot of

what happened in pre-trial was determining whether the defendant is to come back

for a jury trial. Another thing that happened a lot was attorneys motioning for the

charges of OUI and DUIs be dropped but, the judge didnt agree for most cases and

the motion was denied. Restraining and harassment orders were also extended or

added onto. The assistant clerk Liz told explained to me that defendants only come

from lockup if their attorney doesnt wave their right to appear in courtroom. For

the few defendants that had mental health issues they were ordered by the judge to

make appointments with counselors to help their issues. Often times the ADA would

refer back to previous court rulings and cases when trying to prove the defendant

guilty. This is something I learned happened during one of my classes at Nichols and

it was cool to see it used in a real life situation.

 Towards the end of my time at the internship Judge Bernard asked if Amanda

and I could do a project for her. There were going to be new justices coming into the

court in July and Judge Bernard was worried that the courtrooms werent organized

in a way where the new judges would be comfortable using the stand. She asked us

to organize all the courtrooms in a uniform manner where the judges could easily

navigate through the drawers and find the form they needed. Amanda and I went

through each courtroom to find all the forms we would need and we made copies of

all of them for the six courtrooms. This took a whole day of work to complete and

another day of work to actually get them into the courtrooms. We color coordinated

each section of forms and put them in file holders. After everything was finished

Judge Bernard was ecstatic, she said it was exactly what she envisioned.

I also spent a large sum of time in the office during my internship. I moved

retention files from older years to the back archive of files so there would be room

in the main vault for newer case. I worked on the Annie Dookhan files, which I

explained more in my case study. But, one thing I learned in the office, which is

important, was how to enter civil complaints. In basic terms this is taking the case

on paper and entering it into the system to almost create a case. I found this one of

the most valuable things I learned during my in office experience. I also learned how

to enter in motions. This could range from a motion for a jury trial or just any simple

motion. After I entered the motion I would have to go into the vault and find the

docket and put the actual paper into that folder.

I would say my overall experience was mediocre. Despite all the interesting

things I learned in the courtroom I had wished to learn more about functions in the
different offices. I found that most of my time outside of the courtroom was filing

and moving files, which arent great experience, but it had to be done. I did make

great connections with the judges and even met some people in the probation

department who were more than happy to sit down and have a conversation with

me about what they do. I am more than thankful for this opportunity and learning

experience.