If you’ve never sat in on a court case, you’re missing out on some serious drama.
Why watch constructed stuff on the TV when you could get a slice of the real action, for free? Most courts are open to the public, and there are people out there who spend their free time sitting in on cases big and small, purely for the thrill of it.
And with thousands of court cases happening a year, including upwards of 90,000 criminal defendant filings, there’s certainly plenty to keep you busy.
You never quite know what you’re going to get in court.
One day, you might be watching an assault trial go down; the next, you’re learning about a woman who’s trying to sue her neighbor for planting a tree on her side of the property line, or a divorcing couple arguing over who gets to keep the exercise bike.
If you get your kicks from court cases, you’ll love this story.
Caught In Providence is a YouTube channel that streams real cases from Providence Municipal Court.
As with any courtroom, sometimes the cases are more serious, and other times, they’re a little… well… funny.
The first case of the day sees a couple, married for 43 years, take their place in front of the judge.
Things get down to business immediately, with the wife taking the lead:
“Good morning, your honor. This is my wonderful husband. I got the ticket, he was driving my car. I’m not guilty; he is.”
Though the courtroom isn’t typically a place for laughter, the wife’s to-the-point statement raises a chuckle.
She continues:
“Let me explain what happened. I get the ticket in the mail, and I go, ‘What’s this?’ He says, ‘Just pay it.’ I said, ‘What happened?'”
According to the wife, whose name is Linda, her husband said he had turned right on a yellow light.
But this wife wasn’t paying for her husband’s error, oh no!
So she decided that the only thing to do was to fight the ticket. She continued:
“So, on Wednesday, I looked at the video for the first time.”
Here, she discovered a problem. Her husband hadn’t gone through a yellow light, after all. He’d gone through a red light.
Judge Frank Caprio, understandably, was a little baffled as to what was going on.
He said:
“So you came here today to tell me he’s guilty?”
Linda clarified:
“I’m not guilty. The ticket’s in my name, I’m not guilty.”
But the judge responded:
“No, I understand that. You came here to tell me he’s guilty. So, the first thing you did was throw him under the bus.”
Of course – Linda said she wouldn’t throw herself under.
This whole time, by the way, her husband is standing next to her, silent and abashed.
You have to feel for the guy!
But of all the super-serious court cases out there, this one’ll give you a much-needed giggle.
Linda goes on to say that if she was a police officer and she looked at the video of her husband driving through a red light, she would definitely say he was guilty.
The judge brings up information about the incident, and we learn that the husband drove through the red light 0.3 seconds after it had turned red.
At this, Linda decides to change her tune, arguing, “Three-tenths of a second? That’s not much.”
To more laughter from the audience, the judge asks the husband whether he goes through this every day.
Linda intercepts, saying:
“We’ve been happily married for 43 years, right?”
To which her husband replies:
“Yes, dear.”
You’ve got to love the comedy between this couple – and thankfully, their case ended well.
You can check out this hilarious case, plus another case you don’t want to miss, in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
