She was a beautiful young woman. 19 or 20 years old, with a wonderful face and
a Barbie Doll figure. As gorgeous as
this young woman was, she did not flaunt her beauty.
The beautiful young woman approaches the bench and pleads
guilty to no Minnesota
driver’s license. I ask her what she
needs to do to get her license, and she tells me. I offer to continue the case four to six
weeks so she can get her license, and she tells me, “I don’t think I can, your
Honor. I report to Marine Boot Camp the
week after next.”
My heart sinks, and I want to cry. This plea is happening at the beginning of a
troop surge in Iraq. I know that this beautiful young woman will
likely be deployed to a war theater when she completes her training.
And I know that the odds are greater that she’ll be sexually
assaulted by one of her comrades than be killed in action in Iraq or Afghanistan.
One in three of active duty women serving in the U.S. military
have reported being the victim of sexual assault while serving. That is about double the rate for
civilians.
So, I sat on the bench and told
the beautiful young woman how grateful I was for her service to our country,
all the while containing the urge to scream at her, “DON’T GO! PLEASE, DON’T GO! DON’T PUT YOURSELF IN THAT HORRIBLE AND
DANGEROUS SITUATION!” But, I maintained
my “Judicial demeanor”, keeping order in the courtroom and moving the calendar
along.
As a judge, people pass in front
of the bench day in and day out. They
may spend 10 minutes before me, or they may be a party in a trial that takes
several weeks. Then, they pass out of my
life and back to their own.
In my 26 years on the bench,
probably hundreds of thousands of people have appeared before me in court. Of that number, there are only a handful of
people and situations that I wonder about days, weeks or years later.
That beautiful young woman is one
of those. I hope and pray that she
completed her service in the Marines whole in body and spirit and her honor
intact.
But, no time for more reflection
on that case. It’s another day, and
another full courtroom of people that will be inextricably bound in my life for
at least 15 minutes.
*
* * *
* * *
Next Week: Prison Tours
