Court Observation Assignment
What courthouse did you attend?
King County Superior Court
What date did you attend?
May 7, 2018
Judge’s name?
Helen Halpert – State v. Craven
What type of proceeding was it?
Criminal
What was the subject of the case?
Murder/Assault
What stage of the proceeding did you observe?
Direct and cross examination
Chloe Newell
BUS&201
Professor Rainge
May 7, 2018
I grew up loving criminal investigation shows like Law & Order: SVU and CSI. And my
grandma, who played a major part in raising me, worked at the King County Courthouse until
she retired in 2015. However, all that being said, I had never step foot in a courthouse in my life.
I was excited and nervous to do this assignment. I was excited because I thought I’d be walking
into an action-packed, drama-filled trial just like I had seen on TV. And I was nervous, because I
knew my expectations could be far from what I actually ended up experiencing.
In this paper I will be discussing what I observed when I went to the courthouse on May
7, 2018. I’ll tell you about what I heard from the witnesses and what it was like inside the
