The court proceedings detailed in this paper were observed in the Belleville Municipal Court on Wednesday, October 13, 2004. The court calendar was posted on the wall next to the courtroom entrance. It was listed as the 7 p.m. calendar. The calendar listed the information in the following format.
             Defendant's Name - Plaintiff's Name or Arresting Officer – Charges & Statute #
             State of New Jersey
             The court officers inform everyone that they must walk thru the metal detectors. The court officers also, tell everyone that the first row on the right is reserved for prisoners, and the left side is for attorneys. The judge walks in and, everyone in the court stands up, and the judge tells everyone to sit down. The judge welcomes everyone to the Belleville Municipal Court and, he says it's the 7 p.m. calendar. He then tells everyone that the table on the left is for the plaintiff, and the one on the right is for defendant. The judge introduces the court staff which consists of two court officers, court clerk, prosecutor, and public defender. He then tells everyone how the court will operate in order to get everyone out as soon as possible. The judge begins by instructing everyone to please wait until they are called to avoid confusion. He then tells anyone that needs to speak to the prosecutor or public defender to wait until they are called. The court clerk then calls the defendant's name if there is a plaintiff there name is called, but if the plaintiff is the State of New Jersey then no name is called. Both parties must answer here, and if the defendant doesn't answer the judge tells the court clerk to revoke bail, and issue a bench warrant. If the defendant has an attorney, and then the attorney responds present with counsel.
             After the roll call, all defendants' that are represented by an attorney are taken first. The first case was a man charged with driv...