My Day in Court

I rehearsed my defense for a couple months.

Last week I was in court. I was the defendant.

Without getting to over-zealous, I had a run in with the evil empire that is the local parking enforcement. Here is a rule to keep in mind: By choosing to park anywhere in a college town, you have automatically revoked your rights. College towns have helicopters hovering overhead with meter maids that zip line in within seconds of the moment that parking restrictions become effective.

Shoot - I wasn't going to get too over-zealous.

Here's the short explanation. I was rendezvous-ing with my wife to swap cars. Parking restrictions began on this street at 5. I waited with my car from 5:00 to 5:07, when she arrived. She was pregnant, had to pee so we went into the home of our friend, in front of which we had parked. We said hi. She peed. We said thanks and goodbye, returning to our cars at 5:12 - each of which had a ticket. (I could still faintly hear the helicopter flying off that had just zipped in the parking Nazi.) We got one at 5:10 and one at 5:11.

Man. I was mad.

Karen (our friend) had 2 parking passes for guests, but we thought in the time we'd be there we wouldn't need them. Indeed - it may have taken her 4 minutes just to find them!

So - two tickets totalling $30. No way was I paying.

Here's the short story on how it works. You refuse to pay. They send a court summons. You plead not guilty. You pay the fines + some hefty court costs. ($115 was what I sent in!) You come on your appointed date. You plead your case for not being guilty. Then comes the verdict.

I'll tell you how it played out in a minute, but for now here is what was really really interesting to me:


I was scared to death.


Weird huh? I really believe that I was in the right. My thoughts - rehearsed in my head for days and days prior: the purpose of the law is to protect residents from having random non-resident people (OK - students) from leaving their cars parked on resident's streets all the time, causing inconvenience and loss of room to park. I was a guest of the resident, I was there for 5 minutes with the resident, and there is certainly, or should be, enough flexibility in the law for pregnant women to pee at a friend's house. I truly believe that I didn't deserve those tickets.

Yet - I was in the court room and my heart was pounding. I was not coming in with a lie. I wasn't really angry with the meter maid (from her perspective, I couldn't expect her to do any differently) and I felt that justice would support me.

So why was I so intimidated and nervous?

I think the answer has to do with authority. In the court room, I have rights (and happily in the American system whether you think it's broken or not) I didn't really have anything to fear for my personal well-being. But in terms of my case - of the judgment, decisions, penalties and effects, the judge had complete authority. What he decided would be what happened. I could present my perspective, but he had authority, true authority to make his determination reality.

To enforce this sense of authority, the judge sat really high. I was surprised and hadn't thought about this. The room was small, maybe about twice the size of my living room. But when I stood up and seated judge looked at me I was still a good couple of feet below his eye level. I'm over 6'. He was near the ceiling.

I was in no personal danger, I felt I was in the right, but I was still pretty intimidated. This over a couple parking tickets.

I believe that one day we all will have to stand before a Judge. He will not be evaluating one particular instance of infraction, but the whole of our lives. His authority will be total. His ruling will be completely accurate - nothing will be hidden or manipulated. His ability to carry out a sentence will be sure. Everything we've ever done will be laid bare, seen for what it is.

The thing with a court case is that you're either proclaimed guilty or not. The issue isn't whether you have done more good than bad, the question is "did you break the rule or not?" We have all broken rules. This should cause a reaction in us - something must be done.

This is what the Bible is all about. God doesn't want us to bear the sentencing, so he gives us an opportunity to settle - out of court. Do you know what it is? Ask me. I'd love to tell you.

For my situation, I broke even. (Which is really a win in a parking ticket case in a college town!) The Judge decided that I'd pay one ticket, and he would dismiss my wife's ticket and the court fees. I could have (should have) waited by the cars while she was in our friend's house. Seemed like the best I could get, so I was pretty happy. Glad to pay the $15. I didn't bear the full weight of the penalty - just a little.

That's a good deal - in the case of parking tickets. . . and life.