Our justice system

We need a modern day Dickens who can capture the stupidity of our criminal court system they way he did in Bleak House. I've just returned from my day in court, actually my second day in court following the theft of my son's car a year and a half ago.

At my first court appearance I was told that they weren't going to need my testimony as I didn't see the guy who did it, do it. And anyway they were going to drop those charges and have a nice day.

More than a year later, a sheriff knocks on my door to issue me a subpoena and once again I must make a 45-mile round trip or face "BODY ATTACHMENT AND FINE FOR FAILURE TO OBEY" said subpoena. So I brave rush hour traffic--rush hour traffic is even more annoying when you're not actually working--get wanded in the security line, wait about 20 minutes for an elevator to the fifth floor only to be told with a smile that I likely wouldn't be needed because the chap was going to plead to a lesser offense.

Then I sat around waiting to hear whether the plea deal was going through, got my parking ticket validated and made my way back home.