arrested development

geez, I haven't had this much fun since I chased that chicken around the ranch on a drunken lonesome moonlit night!

so I get up and go to the Courthouse for the continuing prelim of the Lance DUI trial...it takes me 45 minutes to get from Carp to Santa Barbara due to the traffic..#$%%^^@!!!!

but it's such a nice day..Santa Barbara is very nice in the morning and I am virtually carefree...I get to the Courthouse at about 8:45 am for the 9:00 am start...there's some familiar faces...there's Kasi Beutel with a flower in her hair...

there's Peter Lance, Cruzito Cruz and Scott Steepleton sitting on a bench together...there's Jerry Roberts walking by....and there's that stringy haired gal..... look, it's Mr. Wimpy dressed in black, walking past me a few times, looking like an old demented gay blackbird....

I'm waiting but there's an 8:30 AM hearing in Courtroom #2 that's spilling over into 9:15 AM..so I go in anyway..no metal detectors this time...I sit down and it's the Corey Lyons hearing wrapping up..this guy is accused of double murder...his first two trials were thrown out, so now a third is in the works?? ....let him go for Pete's sake! and he looks much less threatening in person...

then finally the Lance hearing began.....this thing took more twists and turns than a college girl pole dancing.....mmmmmm

while seated near the back, I took a picture and the cop came over and told me no cameras.. I said ok, sorry... I could have stood up and cried like a baby but I didn't because I'm not a baby!! I obey the law, unlike other people...then the judge issued an order: no cameras..period... some previous images in the press of Lance cheering and coaching the witnesses was not good....

new and improved....

Judge Hill began the proceedings with a much different demeanor...new and improved...although he still likes to take the long way home, at least he was much more forceful and direct today......he picked up his voice and laid down some ground rules and cited the coverage by the newpapers and blogs of the first hearing!!
he scolded Genis and Lance for their antics at the first hearing and promised that any other disrespect shown the court will result in sanctions....he warned Genis that some of his earlier statements like the judge was filibustering were close to contempt...

he went back and forth with both lawyers telling them what he expected of them and how to behave, like professionals.. he asked them "do you understand me??"

Lance mumbled yes...Genis was almost in tears....Kasi's lawyer Horowitz agreed, then they all argued about emails..Lance is sending Kasi emails, Kasi is sending the Reverend emails...the judge said the parties are acting silly and would consider restraining orders to keep them from contacting each other since they can't seem to act civilly towards each other...haha

Genis then complains that there's too many cops in the court room ( I count three ) and they are intimidating his clients! Judge Hill scoffed at that and said there's also some lawyers, interns, and many other folks in the courtroom..so what...

then all of a sudden Cruzito Cruz who is sitting at the back of the room stands up and starts clapping at something Lance or Genis said...then he starts shouting at the judge!! this dude Cruz is mui retardo!!
 
Hill tells Cruz to leave and Cruz keeps getting angrier shouting a bunch of gibberish..then the police escort him out, rather forcefully...I don't know what happened in the lobby but I heard lots of commotion and saw a lot of cops when the door swung open...

next... Peter Lance started in on the judge, shouting at him like a two year old and Hill kept warning him: Mr Lance..Mr Lance..

but Mr Lance wouldn't quit! so Judge Hill told him to leave the court room....Lance was up on his feet, mumbling and shouting, looking at Genis who just stood there with a shocked look on his face!! Lance yelled about the court being the Nuremberg trial or some such thing... he was defiant so two cops came over and grabbed him by the arms...Lance cried.. "leave me alone, I can get out on my own".....but they escorted him out anyway....kinda like reporters getting escorted out of the News-Press during the meltdown....these guys Lance and Cruz are acting like spoiled brats craving attention....whaaa whaaa whaaa!

wow...I was sitting next to a beautiful lady who smelled like a flower, but this courtroom outburst was almost as exciting!!

then Mr Wimpy who was flitting around every five minutes, in and out of the court room like a Nervous Nellie, runs out into the lobby and starts shouting at the cops, telling them to leave Peter alone...like he was trying to protect his boyfriend!!!

I was cracking up and wouldn't be surprised if Lance, Cruz and Mr. Wimpy ended up in jail...what a bunch of twinkies!!

after the fire works, the witnesses signed some papers..the judge ruled that they didn't have to testify..instead they signed declarations....Genis said he wanted to put Beutel on the stand so the media could check her body language...WTF does that have to do with anything? she blinked therefore she's guilty??? Judge Hill said no...

and then I left....and I don't know what happens next...but I'll find out sooner or later..I kinda like it around Court Room #2...