The Second Installment of Treasures from “Proverbs to Live By”
August 19, 2015
Handyman’s handyman loved spending time with family
August 19, 2015
It is a place where all manner of problems and offenses end up, the courthouse on West Main Street in Houma.
Key to the success of all is the courtroom workgroup, the combined mind-power of judges and their clerks, the bailiffs, the prosecutors and the defense lawyers, for whom a day in the sometimes dramatic well is just another day at the office.
Sometimes members of the courtroom work group save people from themselves.
In Division B, where Judge Johnny Walker presides, one of the prosecutors is W. Seth Dodd, who has now been with District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. for going on nine years.
Soft-spoken usually is Dodd, slow to ire, measured in how he uses his country lawyer baritone.
You never know when you work in the courthouse where some of those abilities will come in handy, and last week Seth had a situation of his own – or more accurately shouldered a situation that he could have let be – and his own skills of negotiation and persuasion came into play.
It all stemmed out of a case the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries brought against some guys from Bourg. James Miller, Felix Miller and James Belanger. They were fortunate, in a sense, that it was the law taking them to task because thieving of crabs or the traps used to catch them from waters in these parts can likely result in a dose of buckshot.
The Millers and Belanger, as the records showed, were ticketed for just such an offense, and rather than go to court chose to wait. Warrants issued and all three ended up in court.
James Miller, in his preliminary appearance before Judge Walker, had some issues with the case and how it was handled. In particular he objected to a requirement that bonds be posted. So he let go a chain of expletives directed at the judge. Walker retaliated, slamming Miller with a contempt citation, and this was discussed when the Millers and Belanger returned to court last week.
They expressed a desire to enter guilty pleas for the crab trap matter, which was fine with the judge, who set a return dates for Felix and for Belanger.
James Miller was another matter, because there was still the contempt citation to deal with. Walker asked James if he wished to apologize to the court for his untoward action.
“I meant every word of what I said before,” James told the judge.
This didn’t sit well.
James was told to wait in court. The contempt matter would be dealt with in due time. In the court’s time. And so James waited.
Seth had observed all of this.
“Talk your buddy,” he told one of the co-defendants. “You’ve got to tell him this isn’t worth it.”
Felix and the other James, Belanger, knew the James who was held in contempt pretty well and didn’t think that was going to happen, and said so.
That’s when Seth took matters into his own hands.
“You have a family,” Seth told James. “You’ve got a job in Mississippi. Do you really want to spend 30 days in jail? Whether you were upset or not, you created a security concern in the court.”
After the lunch break, when James appeared again before the judge, there was a moment during which breaths were held.
Then Miller spoke to the judge. He never did apologize to Judge Walker directly. But he did apologize to the court, and took responsibility for what he had done, for offending the majesty of the law, and making a lot of people – the judge included – uncomfortable.
The idea of apologizing to the court had come from Dodd, who knows about overcrowding and the jail and didn’t want to see someone with a family to feed go to jail if it could be helped, all of which is why he had addressed James to begin with.
“When you are dealing with people in court, coming in they are already upset,” Seth explained. “They can’t pay a fine, they may be guilty, and there is no need to inflame the situation.”
The contempt charge was dropped. James, like the others, was free to go until a court date that is 90 days down the road.
And Seth got to deal with a reporter accusing him of diplomacy.
“I wouldn’t say I am a diplomat,” Seth responded. “Usually I am able to get done with people what I need to get done with them. Most of the time people just want you to talk to them respectfully. I just find you can get along with people if you treat them how you wish to be treated yourself.”
