PIZZO1

Rebeca Pizzo

Dr. Rothermel

Summer Internship

Start Date: 6/1/2021

6/1/2021:

8:35 A.M.- 12:00 A.M.: 3 hours and 25 minutes

Today was a quick day seeing's as it was my first. I came in at 8:35 A.M. and by 9:00 A.M. I was

in orientation for the internship. The majority of the day I did paperwork to get myself registered

for the courthouse. The other half of the day was spent getting familiar with the computers at the

courthouse and seeing what websites are used for certain things and being introduced to my own

office alongside the District Attorney. It was more of a technical day for me; therefore, it was

short as they had no other work for me to do.

6/3/2021:

8:30 A.M.- 3:15 P.M.: 6 hours and 45 minutes

My morning started off with getting to the office at 8:30 A.M... Directly at 9:00 A.M. there was a

criminal court with Judge Edwards and that lasted until, roughly, 10:30 A.M... I was fortunate

enough to be able to sit in the front row and take notes. Here is a list of notes I took during the

hearings (below will only be 3/9 cases I took notes on today for lengths, and your, sake):

Case 1: This case was about a young male who was charged with possession of a

controlled substance a sum of 8 years ago. Moreover, this hearing was primarily focused

on why he has not completed the community service he was assigned which was a total

of 40 hours (about 1 and a half days). Due to voicing his mental health struggles as a
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reason of incompletion, such as anxiety and depression, the judge allowed for a

continuation of his trial along with an order to seek mental health help.

Case 2: This case was about an elderly man who was charged with recklessly

endangering another person. Within this case, I have come to learn that this man was

under the influence of alcohol and was trying to shoot at a groundhog in his yard but

missed and shot his wife. She did not die, and in the end her and her son wrote letters to

the judge explaining that it was an accident. He left the courtroom on the account that he

now must serve probation.

Case 3: This case was about an elderly man who was charged with simple assault. He got

this charge by beating his wife and being under the influence of both alcohol and meth at

the time of the incident. Since said incident he has undergone rehab and marriage

counseling. When asked by the judge if he had anything he say he issued an apology and

thank you statement to the court by saying, “... thank you for taking care of my wife

when I was not in the right mind to...” With the fact that he was going to rehab and has

shown vast improvement in the eyes of the rehab facility, the judge granted him a $500

fine, $250 DNA extraction, mental health, and anger management classes, and was put

onto probation.

Overall, what I have learned from criminal court this morning is that the court is very

understanding when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health. They will allow for a

second chance and give physical help (ex: referring them to certain rehabs/ mental health

professionals) but are stern at giving no more afterwards. I also have learned how the procedures

in the courtroom unfold. I am still trying to understand a lot of the language they use along with

the numbers they talk about and their meanings.

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Similarly, I attended another criminal court hearing from 1:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M... Once again, I

was able to take notes and at this hearing I was fortunate enough to have another attorney sit

beside me and explain more background knowledge on the cases and what his opinions are and

the way he does his practice. (Below are 2/4 cases that I oversaw today)

Case 1: A young woman was charged with possession of marijuana and drug

paraphernalia. Since her arrest she has been in associations where she has worked on

drug abuse and her mental health. She was sentenced to 12 months' probation, the ARD

program, and was subject to 20 hours of community service.

Case 2: An older man was charged with simple assault for beating his wife. The

commonwealth did not agree with letting him off with probation, however with the wife

writing a letter to the judge and him having a clean record he was able to get off on

probation, pay a $300 fine, and was put into mental health and anger management

classes.

Personally, I did not know how understanding the court was towards mental health- alongside

probation being the leading end factor for all the cases I saw today. It makes me wonder if we

have strayed from being black in white in the court room and that the modern-day courthouse is

more so a gray area. Nevertheless, I was still excited for lawyers to reach out to me and help me

better understand some things unfolding in the classroom. Per said lawyer has offered to help me

observe sexual assault cases, and I am glad to be learning so early into the internship.

6/4/2021:

8:30 A.M.- 12:15 P.M.: 3 hours and 45 minutes

Today I am not as busy as yesterday, however today I will be doing more challenging things.

After the 10:00 A.M.- 12:00 P.M. child abuse coalition meeting I am seeing, I am going
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downstairs to one of the assistant district attorney's offices to go over a case he is working on and

then I am making a PowerPoint for him to use in court, as it can also pair as a simplified study

guide. I am excited because I do well with simplifying information, and in high school I made

nationals in FBLA for my PowerPoint and presentation so I am confident it will go well.

However, something that I am learning about myself is that I find myself trying too hard to be

smart and it gets overwhelming. For the future this is going to help me with my job as a lawyer

because if I can show myself that I can relax and do it, there is nothing I cannot do.

The coalition meeting opened my eyes to the behind the scenes of certain cases. Within this

meeting it was focused on a child abuse case and the D.A. on the job put together this meeting to

get feedback on if there were any holes in her case, what others thought about the case, and if

they had any cases similar and what worked and did not work for them during their hearing. I

thought it was interesting that this happened because I thought every case was privatized and that

the attorneys did not seek out others help. Overall, it was a sad but informative day.

6/7/2021:

8:35 A.M.- 12:25 P.M.: 3 hours and 50 minutes

Throughout the entire morning I helped attorney Howell find, in a sense, important/

incriminating/ self-deprecating messages in a case he is working on. Today I learned that the

police could have access to your phone and are allowed to completely search through it for the

information that they need. There was nothing else on the agenda for today.

6/8/2021:

8:45 A.M.- 10:25 A.M.: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Today was a slow and quiet day. There was nothing for me to observe and the most I did today

was stamp envelopes and staple papers together. I believe the rest of the week will get busier and
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I will have more things to do. Among the things I might be able to do this week is go to a

different courthouse to see a hearing going on. I am interested to sit in on this case because the

man that was arrested had over 390 bags of heroin in his car... More to be explained on Friday

about that case. Anyways, today was a short day, and I am excited to come back tomorrow.

6/9/2021:

8:30 A.M.- 1:15 P.M.: 4 hours and 45 minutes

My day started off with central court. For central court, the hearings take place in the biggest

court room of the house. Today there was a male judge sitting in instead of the court houses

female judge, Judge Edwards. I was excited to see how his practice would differ from hers, but

sadly as central court started, I noticed it was completely different than a normal court day in the

sense of how it would playout. Instead of everyone being on time or early there were people

always coming in and out. Similarly, the court was not as quiet as a normal court would be.

Moreover, the biggest difference was that the attorney and their client would go up to the judge

and speak to him personally, rather than sitting afar and talking into a microphone. This was so

that the judge could personally see the client signing the papers needed for their case. This was

an interesting perspective as I did not know this happens.

However, today I am allowed to sit in on drug court, something that is not open to the public nor

attorneys that are not involved in the case. I had to get special permission and it was interesting

to go in and be a part of the process that is not widely seen. While I cannot talk about what

happened during this time- I just wanted to add that it was very heart warming and I love that

this is something that the Wayne County Courthouse acts in.

6/10/2021

8:50 A.M.- 1:35 P.M.: 5 hours and 45 minutes

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Thursdays are busy days as these are majorly for criminal court. I enjoy sitting in on these cases

because it is interesting to see how some cases are similar criminal wise, but if they have made

effort vs no effort to get better their sentences are completely different. This Thursday differed

significantly from last Thursday in the sense that almost everyone today was either incarcerated

or put on high bail. It is still truly shocking to me that the court takes mental health into such

high consideration... There was one case that stuck out to me today. A woman had a PFA on her

ex-husband, he did not show for court, and she was constantly texting and trying to contact him

therefore when he did reply she filed for court to put him in contempt. I just wonder how that is

allowed. If she was actively looking for his response/ provoking him, how is he the one getting

in trouble. Personally, I think she should get charged with either a fine or even the same

punishment he would be getting. Anyways, today was just a long day of sitting in on court cases,

which is thoroughly enjoyable.

6/11/2021

8:35 A.M.- 12:00 P.M.: 4 hours and 25 minutes

My day started off with sitting in on a PFA hearing. It was not that interesting, but it is always

nice to see all the procedures the court goes through. After that I was supposed to accompany

attorney Robinson in a court hearing, however, district attorney Howell asked me to help him out

on a case. I was excited to help because this case has been going on for years now and is very

important to him. I was told to watch an hour-long interview and write down signs of guilt/ or

things that were seen as weary. This was a cool perspective because I did not know that attorneys

went to this length to show the court why someone is guilty.

6/14/2021
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8:40 A.M.- 12:55 P.M.

I started my day today by watching and reviewing a tape for a case. This time it was a witness.

While it is the same procedure, there was a little more leeway for the witness, and there were

different questions asked. To be noted, the trooper stated that she wanted her questions to be

answered in the sense that she is not looking to put someone away- rather she wanted the

questions to be answered in all truth with no bias. I know that is an obvious statement, but I feel

as though it is overlooked. I always felt like the questions asked to witness were pointed in the

sense to make sure the person charged was guilty... I then ended my day by copying down papers

from actual paper over into a word document.

6/15/2021

9:00 A.M.- 11:46 A.M.

There is not much for me to do today. I am typing up the rest of the papers that were given to me

by the victim witness coordinator, and that will be my day.

6/17/2021

8:30 A.M.- 2:00 P.M.

Criminal court is today. Usually, I go down to the court room and sit there and listen, however

today I oversaw and wrote out press releases. I was given a set of files concurrent to each case,

and what I had to do was make sure the papers were in line with the sentences against the

defendant. It was easy as most of them stayed the same, however there were some where the

Judge changed the sentences. Today was particularly sad as there was a DUI homicide where an

elderly woman was killed on scene, and at the total opposite of the spectrum there was an infant

death due to drug usage. It truly makes me wonder what we, as a society, can do to change the

world of addiction and alcohol negligence. The rest of my day was spent in the guilty plea court
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from 1 P.M.-2 P.M. Like I have said before, it is interesting to see similar cases but with

different outcomes for the defendants.

6/18/2021

8:35 A.M.- 10:00 A.M.

From the look of the calendar there is nothing going on in court today. Most likely I will be

spending the day helping with paperwork. There was a wedding going on inside the courthouse

today which was interesting to see when I first walked in though.

Overall, I ended up helping the victim witness coordinator with an excel sheet, and to my

surprise I ended up showing her something new when it came to crunching numbers.

6/21/2021

8:35 A.M.- 12:00 P.M.

Today was fun. The assistant district attorney gave me a case to work on, and she specifically

needed a timeline of the aggressive behavior the defendant has shown throughout his lifetime. It

was a lot of paperwork that I needed to go through to get all the dates, three full cases, but

eventually it all panned out. Once I gave her the timeline, she said it was exactly what she

needed so I am slowly but surely gaining more confidence in helping the attorneys out on high

end cases.

6/22/2021

8:35 A.M.- 9:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M.- 3:05 P.M.

So, today I showed up at 8:35 A.M. but I was scheduled for 12:30 P.M. I asked around the office

and nobody needed help, so I came back at 1 for an omnibus trial. It fell through as the defendant

plead guilty. After the trial, the DA asked me to go over a case file that contained an

investigators license, and that just about sums up my day.

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6/24/2021

8:30 A.M.- 3:16 P.M.

One of the workers in the DA’s office that does the newsletters was not able to come in today,

therefore I was given the job of doing the press releases. I sat in court throughout all the pleas

and then after went out for lunch. The rest of my day will be spent doing the same thing! I am

slowly learning he numbers that correspond with the sentences which is big for me as I was

completely lost in the beginning.

6/25/2021

8:30 A.M.- 10:45 A.M.

My morning is starting off with a sentencing guidelines fundamentals course offered by Penn

State University over zoom. This course is going to help me learn things that are otherwise

unsaid and just done here in the courthouse. It is going to describe why sentences are the way

they are, and it is going to give fundamental points on how to remember them.

6/28/2021

10:20 A.M.- 1:22 P.M.

This morning I met up with ADA Robinson to go over a case where he needs me to make a

PowerPoint for him. He updated me on the case and then showed me how to access certain files

that pertain to the case. Later in the week we are meeting up with Mike Brown who is a detective

here in the courthouse. He is going to give more insight on the case and is going to give me more

information to sort through to put onto the PowerPoint. I was also informed by ADA Robinson

that he is going to need my help for at least two more cases, so I am very excited to get the week

rolling. To end my day, I helped DA Howell look up text messages and carry over videos from
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one flash drive onto another. Even though it was a small task I was happy to help and always

look forward to doing tasks like that.

6/29/2021

8:45 A.M.- 2:23 P.M.

This morning I am attending a meeting with the DA and a female trooper/ detective. I am

looking forward to being a part of it and how it is going to unfold. Something I have been

thinking about is how busy the DA is. Between zoom meetings, in person meetings, small cases,

and large cases he seems to have everything under control- but it is still a lot of work. I admire

how smoothly he handles it and I wonder if being a “regular” attorney is the same way.

After the meeting I spent the rest of my time typing up a 911 call report, looking for messages,

and helping around the office.

7/1/2021

8:35 A.M.- 1:50 P.M.

As any other Thursday goes, I had criminal court in the morning. It is always nice to start my day

off that way. After sentences I went down to ADA Robinsons office to see if he needed any help-

to which he did. I helped him until lunchtime with sorting papers, finding names, and getting

more details to explain in court. It was interesting to see how he prepares for his cases. Then

afterwards were guilty pleas at 1 P.M. I stayed until the end and then went home.

7/2/2021

10:15 A.M.- 12:50 P.M.

I have been waiting for a case to watch down at the magistrates and today was the day. I went

down to the Hawley borough with ADA Robinson and watched the trial unfold there. This type

of court is so much different from what I see every Thursday. During this case there were
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witnesses on trial, cross examinations, and an argument period, as they called it. The attorneys

did their best, and even argued a little bit in front of the Judge- which would have NEVER

happened if it was Judge Edwards. That was another difference I noticed. This judge was not as

formal or as stern as Judge Edwards, but I guess that judges are different all over. This was a

stereotypical trial case that would be shown on TV. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope I get the

opportunity to see one again. I was also told by the DA that starting the 12th there was going to

be jury trials so I am very excited for the start of that.

7/6/2021

9:20 A.M.- 11:52 P.M.

Today is quiet. There is nothing on the calendar for court, so I have done a lot of paperwork for

those around the office. The paralegal for the district attorney's office had me go into the

pathonataries (?) office and file paperwork, and then after DA Howell asked me to look over a

colloquy for a case he is working on. I am still struggling with some of the wordage in the

documents like this, but I was grateful that he took the time to explain the meanings of the

words/ phrases and why they were important to put into the document. Something I truly need to

work on is my confidence. Most of the time I know what I am talking about, but I am worried I

am speaking wrong on the topic and then I back track and make myself look lost and stupid. I am

not stupid, but I need to learn how to better express what I am saying.

7/7/2021

9:45 A.M.- 11:57 A.M.

There is an argument on motions today. I projected it to be interesting, and as the concept was

interesting, however the court was not able to watch/ listen as they had the hearing in the judge's
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chambers. Overall, though, it was turned in the DA’s favor which was a big win seeing as this

case has been going on since 2019.

The rest of the day was spent seeing if anyone in the office needed help. I learned how to scan

papers into Laserfiche, and I was also invited to help with jury selection on Friday.

7/8/2021

8:35 A.M.- 2:30 P.M.

As of every Thursday there is criminal court. Like usual, I got to sit in and watch. It is always

interesting every week. However, I am just now noticing that not everyone pleas to all their

counts, as there are several usually. I have noticed it is because they struck a deal with the district

attorneys for a lesser time. Similarly, I have noticed a pattern which is: if someone is

“apologetic” and is “sorry” for their crimes they usually get a lesser sentence if the probation

office and the court sees it as wholehearted. This rubs me the wrong way, personally. There was

a guy in court today who raped a 15-year-old girl and because he was sorry and said he wished it

never happened he got a lesser sentence???? I feel as though the court should not weight in on

that. Maybe this is a piece of the court that I have not fully learned about yet, or maybe it is just

this courthouse? I do not know but I am eager to see what we are taught about this topic in law

school.

7/9/2021

9:30 A.M.- 11:53 A.M.

I helped with jury selection today. It was nice to see the behind the scenes for this type of

paperwork. There are major red flags that they must look out for such as being highly religious,

prejudice, mental/ physical health, and any other comments those who are selected might put into

their paperwork. For example, one person today said that they are highly racist towards black
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people and that they hope they all die, and another one put on their paperwork that they are not a

rat and that they don’t trust or believe in the police. Both very outlandish and highly

inappropriate, but I guess if that was their way of not being selected it worked.

The rest of my day will be taking practice LSAT exams and seeing how I place on those.

7/13/2021

10:15 A.M.-

Today is a quiet day due to it being the day after a trial. Sadly, I was unable to make it yesterday,

but they did update me on it and the man was found guilty. The DA explained to me that after

trials it is a time for everyone in the office to get themselves together and in a sense relax- all the

while still preparing for the next.

Today I helped one of the ADA’s organize piles of papers and helped get him ready for whatever

it was he needed to do next. It is nice getting to know everybody in the office, as it serves as a

type of workplace friendship and a professional sense of advice.

7/14/2021

9:45 A.M.- 1:05 P.M.

Today is uneventful, however nobody's fault. I spent my time finishing the LSAT to which I

scored a 140. Not what I wanted but at least it is not a 120. The rest of the day was spent

watching a dash cam video of a DUI situation, and that was all. Slow, however I did get to learn

more about what the police do when in situations such as the one I watched over.

7/15/2021

8:45 A.M.- 11:03 A.M.

This morning there were only two cases as this Thursday is ghastly different than the rest I have

seen in the past. Due to the trail periods, there are no, or little to none, criminal cases scheduled
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for Thursdays anymore. I suppose I will spend my time asking if any of the DA/ ADA’s need

any help, and if not, I will spend some time looking for law schools that fit me.

7/16/2021

10:30 A.M.- 12:30 A.M.

Fridays are always quiet. When I got to the office the victims witness coordinator showed me

some documents she was reviewing, and it gave me a little more insight on what she does/ how

much she does/ and how she does it. After that ADA Robinson invited me to his office where

him and I went over law school options, and ways to pay less for law school such as joining the

air force. Right after that talk he asked me to go through files to see if there were any people the

office missed to subpoena.

7/20/2021

10:00 A.M.- 11:57 A.M.

This week will be like last in the sense that it is quiet and there is not much to do. It is dawning

on me to ask to maybe just come in next week to end on an informational and busier note than

this week.

7/22/2021

8:30 A.M.- 1:30 P.M.

Thankfully, this week there was sentencing in the morning. It gave familiarity to this week as

there is not much to do. I sat in on sentencing and then afterwards I helped ADA Robinson go

through files, sort them, name them, and put them together.

7/26/2021

9:00 A.M.- 11:34 A.M.

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Today I am stopping in just to see if there is anything going on. I am at my last couple hours here

at the courthouse and will most likely finish this week.

There were a few files that needed to be put together, so I did that but that was all for today.

Tomorrow I will be able to go to a few preliminary hearings with ADA Ellis at the magistrates. I

am quite excited as this type of atmosphere was more personal than the ones sought out on

Thursdays.

7/27/2021

2:00 P.M.- 5:00 P.M.

I was able to sit down and watch another preliminary hearing. I enjoy these as there is more that

goes into them then compared to Thursday's criminal court. I like that it is personal, and I also

like that the other side can argue their position. In the first case it was circled around a DUI. I

thought it was going to be very cut and dry after the DA was done speaking his part and

interviewing the witness, a trooper, however I was almost convinced once the defendants

attorney said his part. They tried to spin it in the sense that he could not walk due to just being in

a car accident and that one drink alone can make a person smell like alcohol. He also tried to

convince the judge that the blood work was obtained illegally by the DA, to which I thought the

judge was going to believe- maybe just because I did ha-ha. It did not matter, as like I said before

it was cut and dry, and the man was convinced of all five counts he was charged with.