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.
