Stop Dragging My Heart Around
EDIT: We are in DEPARTMENT 30 today! (Not 34 as noted below. 🤦🏻♀️)
Today I am not ok. Of course, the grief and the overwhelm of all we need to take care of in the aftermath of Jeannessa’s murder are always at play. In this moment, I am particularly upset by our justice system.
First, the logistics: The results of yesterday’s court appearance is that the judge recused herself, and court is now rescheduled for TOMORROW, Wednesday, February 25 at 9:00am in Department 34 at the Hall of Justice Courthouse, 190 W Hedding Street,
San Jose. Of course, we will be there and we appreciate anyone who is able to join us.
If you can join online, here is the direct link to the MS Teams Hearing. If this link does not work, you can find the Remote Hearing page of the Superior Court of California of the County of Santa Clara here. Just scroll down to Department 34 in the “morning session” column.
This delay also changes our next court appearance! There will no longer be court on Friday, March 13! It has been postponed to Friday, April 17. For those who had been planning to attend in March, please make a note of it!
Now that those details are out of the way, I’d like to address just some of my upset with the justice system. In the interest of keeping it brief (because I could go on for hours!), I’ll just say that it feels like the defendant has more rights and considerations than we do as victims. There have been multiple instances in which I have felt harmed by the system itself, never mind the actual crime!
If you were present online or in the courtroom yesterday, you witnessed the most recent one. I was kicked out of the online Teams Meeting for not turning off my camera. I could hear noise in the courtroom, but I could not hear the clerk specifically telling me to turn off my camera. Furthermore, it was automatically turned off in the Teams Meeting when I was first joined, with a note that cameras would be available when the session began. Nobody, including our victims’ advocate with the DA’s office who sent me the links to join online, told me that cameras were required to be off. As a person who has led many online meetings, I am generally uncomfortable with the anonymity of cameras off. With a few exceptions, I feel it’s important to show my face and engage as much as possible. Particularly in this instance, I wanted people to see that Jeannessa’s mother was “there” even though I wasn’t able to be there in person. I was totally confused by what was happening, and when I was kicked out of the meeting, I felt embarrassed and deeply upset that I was about to miss something critical to our case! Fortunately, my dear friend and host, Sonya, logged us back in with Arya’s name, so I was able to be present in the end. But not without stress and unnecessary emotional harm!
In addition, we were not told that Voldemort would be in court yesterday. We were given the impression that this court date was somehow “less important” than the others and it was just for the judge and attorneys to sort out the issue at hand. Even online, I felt unprepared and it was jarring to see him. I can only imagine how it felt for Kev and the rest of our family and friends who were there, mere feet from him. Now we know that he will be there for every court proceeding going forward.
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. We still have such a long journey ahead of us in court and it’s likely to get a lot worse before justice is served. The justice system should serve and protect the people, instead it’s just dragging us through the mud. Insult to injury is an understatement.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can join us in person or online tomorrow on such short notice!