PORT ANGELES — Three state appellate judges held court Wednesday at Peninsula College, with their proceedings anything but ordinary.
From behind folding tables draped in white ruffles, the judges looked over a small audience as they heard attorneys’ oral arguments for seven cases.
“You guys are the only real people we’ve seen in months,” Judge Christine Quinn-Brintnall joked to the audience during a question-and-answer session following the docket.
The state’s Division 2 Court of Appeals convened in the college’s Little Theater for the day to give students and community members a chance to see how appellate courts work.
“I’m a big supporter of that,” Chief Judge J. Robin Hunt, who is running unopposed for her second six-year term in the Nov. 5 general election, said Wednesday.
Traveling the region
Since 1993, the Division 2 court has traveled throughout its geographical region, appearing at high schools in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The court is planning to hold session at Sequim High School in February.
“People get a lot of exposure to trials in TV and movies,” Hunt said, “but very little exposure to what an appellate court does.”
The converted courtroom was open to observers as Hunt, Quinn-Brintnall and Judge David Armstrong heard seven appealed criminal cases from Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The judges interrupted attorneys frequently throughout their arguments to question their statements and solicit more information.
Only a couple people attended the 8 a.m. hearings, but by early afternoon about 20 seats in the audience were filled.
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The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
