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Marshall's "backup" courtroom

By Michael C. Smith

I've posted previously on the conclusion of the renovations to Marshall's 1901 county courthouse, including the old district court courtroom.  That courtroom is used now primarily as the meeting room for the Harrison County commissioners' court, as well as for various civic events, but as court watchers know, before it was put back into use for either of those Judge Everingham used it on a emergency basis for a hearing last spring.  That use - as a backup courtroom for the federal judges in Marshall when more that two of the trials or hearings scheduled actually go - was one of the earliest planned uses for the restored courtroom.  (That and local lawyers laying in state, so to speak, for visitation the evening before their funerals.  Or maybe that's just me that's planning that).

Last night the courtroom was used for the League of Women Voters candidate forum for county races, and the newspaper ran this nice photo from the restored gallery showing the arrangement of the courtroom.  It reminded me of the one pre-renovation photo of the courtroom we have been able to locate, which appears to have been taken during closing argument in a case in the late '40's or very early '50's.  We know the date because in the early '50's the courtroom was renovated and the jury box moved from the west side to the center.  (Why wasn't the original layout preserved?  Because this photo was all we had showing the arrangement before the '50's, and the plans had already been approved based on the assumption that the jury box had always been in the middle, so the decision was made to stick with the centered jury box).  A few things I want to point out:

• Judge's bench - the original judge's bench isn't visible in the new picture, but it is behind the Godzilla bench constructed for the commissioners' court, and that's where the judge would be during a trial or hearing.  During federal court hearings or trials, the Godzilla bench - which was laid out with input from judges Ward and Everingham, would hold, from the judge's left, the court reporter, courtroom deputy, law clerk, a empty seat, and the witness.  The historic arrangement had the district clerk to the judge's right and the court reporter in front at a table, and the witness chair was to the judge's left.  This same arrangement is still basically present in the current 71st District courtroom across the street.  The larger "front" bench fits the commissioners' court, of course, with the original judges' bench behind as a ceremonial backdrop, but was also intended to be used by the Texarkana court of appeals when they come to town to hear cases, so the five-person capacity is a nice asset).
• Counsel tables - as the original photo shows, the counsel tables were pushed together to form one large table, and eacxh side had a maximum of three seats, plus the bench at the front of the gallery on the left of the picture, and there were various onlookers inside the rail.  (The only people I can identify with any certainty are Judge Sam B. Hall, Sr. on the bench, and (probably) local attorney Ernest Smith on the far right standing by the district clerk's desk).  This layout - all counsel sharing one table during trial - might provide some insight into how the local bar works, and even (God forbid) into why judges continue to be at least a little surprised when counsel can't get along. In the new courtroom. the counsel tables are unfortunately across the courtroom from each other - most counsel won't even be able to see each other, and they even use different lecterns.  (The floor is wired for a third lectern in the center, but because of the difficulty of building a fully electronic-capable lectern that can do a 180 degree turn, as well as the fact that such an arrangement would mean that the attorney could never see the judge, witness and jury at the same time, the flanking lectern arrangement seems to work better.

I thought readers might be interested in the layout of this courtroom, since they may themselves in it for a hearing some day.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).