This is besides the point

I spent an hour and a half at the court house watching the preliminary hearing for the first of seven suspects arrested in connection with a big fight at a secluded beach, unfold.

The last time I saw the suspect, he had a wild 'fro and wore an orange jumpsuit and slippers. He has since bailed out and shaved his head so I didn't recognize him until he shuffled over to the defense table.

Sometimes the defendents mutter under their breaths or write notes to their lawyers or swear at the cops on the stand (this gets an immediate contempt from the judge) but for the most part they just sit there with their head down or stare straight ahead blankly. If they're not in the orange jumpsuit, it would be hard to imagine some of them doing whatever it was they were arrested for. (But unfortunately for them, they're usually in the orange jumpsuit).

Such was the case for this particular suspect, who according to testimony from a cop, had been shouting racial slurs and threatening cops at the time of his arrest.

The attorneys can be equally entertaining to watch, even though you only get to see their backs.

The defense attorney is good, albeit flamboyant. During the cross-examination he asked the judge to "tell the deputy prosecuting attorney to please sit down. She's distracting me."

The deputy prosecuting attorney managed to eek out, "I will certainly sit" without giving the defense attorney the evil eye. (She avoided eye contact completely).

These two attorneys spent the entire hour and a half objecting to each other's questions.

The poor witness, a cop still new to the department, looked bewildered by the end of it. He must have asked them to repeat questions half a dozen times.

I felt bad for him.

Also part of today's cast of characters was a reporter for one of the Honolulu papers. He is very experienced, I could tell.

Whereas I was wondering whether to describe the defendent's polo shirt as "heather gray" or "white" he had such informed questions as, "What are the list of charges? Is there a possibility that he will serve time in prison consecutively if convicted?"

And whereas I was internally chuckling at how it would be so in character for the defense attorney to clean his client up for this hearing, he got on the phone and called his editors to let them know what he would be turning in.