...and, I'm taking a break

I know I'm supposed to keep going and all, but I'm tired. So tired. Yesterday was the second day of trial. It was scheduled for a half day (which in court terms means 3 hours), and we went beyond by over an hour. The judge was so kind. SOO kind to give us some time in his schedule late in the afternoon, and we took advantage of that. But let's start at the beginning...

Going in, I had convinced myself that we wouldn't finish yesterday. Call it a defense mechanism, but it seemed that there was too much to be done in too little time. We had already experienced a full day (8+ hours) of trial in which, for all intents and purposes, I was the only witness. How on earth could we do 2 more, rest our case, let them present their case and still get done in 3 hours? It was supposed to start at 9. The other attorney was late (we'll call her Joni Mitchell), so we didn't get started until 9:20. Argh!

Ben went first, and did a really good job. There was one line that I had wished was stated differently, but if I think back to my testimony, there's a million things I'd do differently. He was done before 10. Then, we called the ex. He actually did fairly well. Except for the 2 or more times my lawyer impeached him (basically caught him saying 2 - or more - different things under oath). And the time the judge was shocked at his stupidity for bringing a gun INTO THE COURTROOM. Let's see...I'm the defendant in a heated custody case. I think I'll bring a gun with me today! We finished just in time for the 10:30 break.

After break, Ms Mitchell cross-examined the ex, and then we had 1 or 2 questions for re-direct. And then we rested our case. Although the ex was the only person on her witness list, Joni Mitchell called me as her first witness. Then, she asked me all the same questions she asked me on December 13th. Then, she asked me why I left my old job. So I answered that. She got all excited and tried to impeach me, except she had never asked me why I had left my old job before, so that didn't work. My lawyer asked me 1 or 2 questions for his cross, and then she called the ex. He did pretty well, except at the end, when his lawyer let him just talk, and he just kept going and going. He has many regrets about how he's "parented" in the past 5 years.

And then it was 12:05. The judge had some meeting he had to get to. He had a few questions he wanted answered, and he would allow closing arguments. But we had run out of time. And this is where the judge showed some heart and allowed us to come back after 3:30 to finish up. It actually got under way shortly after 4pm. We answered his questions (actually, the lawyers cleared up the child support calculation worksheets and then the ex and his lawyer tried to straighten out the ex's schedule), and then the judge decided to issue a warning before closing arguments. He said that often times, closing arguments in these types of situations are emotionally charged and heated and that he really wanted us (meaning the lawyers) to stick with the facts and the case law. I read that to mean, "hey. there's a gun in here. let's all be cool about this, ok?"

My lawyer had a prepared outline and went through several case law cases and our facts and pretty much laid it out for the judge. He nodded along and it was done in 3 minutes. Joni Mitchell went on and on about what a horrible person I am. It seriously felt like personal attack. Maybe it wasn't, and I'm just being sensitive, but I'm not used to being vilified like that without the ability to defend myself. The judge interrupted her several times throughout her argument. Presentation-wise, we bested them for sure. I just hope that the facts are enough.

So anyway, it did get done. I take my hat off to my lawyer. I really didn't think that we'd pull it off, but we did. We're finished going to court. Now, we just have to wait the 4-7 weeks until the judge renders his verdict and another few weeks for the transcriber to type out the dictation. So...even though I'm going through hell, I'm going to have to pull off to the side of the road for a few weeks until that part gets straightened out.