One lawyer will be out of town in late May, the other will be out of town in the first half of June. The witness is leaving the country. There are no pre-trial conference openings on that date. The discussion goes on and on.

"Your honor, I asked for the 26th of May."

"That's since, I've given you the 19th."

A man returns from lunch a half-hour late Unfortunately for him, his case came up before he got back, and because he was gone, he defaulted. The judge is not patient with defendants who default. If there is time today, the case will be heard again. Otherwise, tough luck.

In the hallway you can hear snippets of conversation that reveal the substance behind the smooth facade of the courtroom.

"It says that you held the knife in a threatening manner."

"No, no, I just slashed the guy's tires."

And: "I was too weak to do it alone, I couldn't get myself together, but then I found the Lord Renee is doing it too. She's an entirely changed person, she's dropped all her old associates, that's what you have to do."

And: "she could get me off if she wanted to but she wants me to do time."

A defendant complains that he has shown up twice for a traffic violation and the police officer has not been present. "This morning there was nobody there." But the judge wonders how the case got forwarded.

"Well, the magistrate was there." But the magistrate cannot give testimony. "The representative for the cop was there too, but the cop didn't show up again." Come back in a month, says the judge.

Next case: an immigrant from the Ukraine has violated a restraining order which bars him from seeing his ex-girlfriend. He rang her doorbell and she called the police.

Through an interpreter he says, "we do not have this law in my country."

The judge: "But you do have government orders which prohibit certain things, is that right? This restraining order prevents you from seeing that women. Do you understand?"

The man agrees to plead guilty, but the judge is not satisfied that he understands his rights, so the case is rescheduled.

Next case: the defendant, currently in custody, is escorted in by the police. The defense says, "Your honor, the victim in this case does not want to testify. She went to the district attorney's office twice and they did listen to her. She had told me that if she does into want to be called in front of a grand jury and if she is called, she will not testify. Since the victim is the only witness we ask that the case be dropped."

The assistant district attorney objects strongly, although he admits he has not talked to the woman. The judge asks why he hasn't taken the trouble since the woman has been here all day. The case is rescheduled until the Commonwealth can catch up.

The lawyers and court offices huddle together at the front of the room, turning the crank on the cases The judge is clearly in charge, but if you squint it's hard to see any differences in status between the bailiffs, the clerks, the lawyers and the judge. All of them are of the system. confident in her grey-faced roles.

The faces in the back of the room change every day, but waiting is always the same.