From Trials to Weddings

As she anxiously waited for her extreme DUI case to be heard, a
fashionably dressed 22-year old woman covered her face fearfully with
her hands. Near her in the courtroom, an older woman fidgeted nervously
with a notebook as her husband talked about his DUI case with an
attorney.

At the same time, a 70-year-old man stood in front of Justice of the
Peace Anne Fisher Segal and pleaded guilty to drinking and driving. In
addition to jail time and more than $2,700 in fines, which he’d be
allowed to pay off $50 a month, he was sentenced to attend frequent
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

In between periodic cases, much of the morning’s courtroom business
involved arranging times to hear other DUI cases. “It’s all about
accountability,” Segal says (speaking for herself and not the court as
a whole) of the often lengthy legal process.

As the sometimes-confusing negotiations took place between Segal and
various attorneys regarding scheduling, people kept filing in and out
of the courtroom. They waited their turns to stand before the judge;
most of them were ready to plead guilty to DUI after a short
proceeding.

“People think, ‘I’m not drunk’,” Segal says. “But it’s a matter of
impairment. No one plans on getting arrested. But if you violate the
law, you must anticipate getting arrested. The penalties for DUI are
very serious, and the fines can’t be waived.”

Segal has no qualms with those penalties. “Where the consequences to
innocent people are so motivating,” she says of DUI, “the penalties are
appropriate.”

To let people know about the severity of DUI punishments, Segal
gives talks to organizations. She also wants to hear a case at Catalina
Foothills High School, which is in her district, “because the kids pay
more attention.”

Segal estimates that up to 90 percent of DUI defendants plead
guilty—and there are hundreds of them each month in the Pima
County court system. In March of this year alone, 470 DUI cases were
filed; thankfully, that’s a substantial drop from the 615 filed in
March 2008.

“I don’t want people to be terrified,” Segal says about defendants
in her courtroom. “Plus, I don’t want them to get a second DUI
offense.”

Segal is the newest member of Pima County’s eight-judge justice
court system, after being elected to her post last November from a
northside district. She calls her colleagues “well-educated, thoughtful
and considerate,” while also heaping praise on the court staff.

Her office, labeled a “former closet” by its current tenant, is in
the historic old county courthouse downtown.

“This building has a beautiful exterior,” Segal observes, “but it’s
not well-functioning … It’s not secure, and not particularly
dignified. We are the people’s court, yet (this building) doesn’t give
people much dignity.”

Working more than 50 hours per week for her annual salary of
$101,500, Segal’s schedule has her hearing misdemeanor cases on Monday,
DUIs on Tuesday, jury trials on Wednesday and Thursday, and civil cases
on Friday. To prepare, she says, she has to come in on weekends to read
material.

“I don’t have a moment,” Segal says of her busy schedule as she
skipped lunch recently during a short break between morning and
afternoon sessions. “But it’s the most interesting job in the
world.”

It is a position which Segal—a Democrat—doesn’t believe
should be filled through partisan elections.

“Our decisions aren’t based on party affiliation, but on the
Constitution,” she says. “The partisan policy is a remnant of the Old
West.”

Segal thinks she is well-suited to the job. “You have to be good at
making decisions,” she says, “and I’m able to be reasonable and
rationale.”

Segal points out that most of those who appear before her are
definitely not hardened criminals. “Instead, it’s the first contact
they’ve had with the legal system, and everyone is very
respectful.”

Especially respectful were the dozens of couples congregating
outside of the courthouse on a recent Friday evening, waiting to be
married. Wearing everything from casual wear to formal bridal attire,
the people waited in a line that wound out of the courthouse, a rainbow
of ethnicities and religions reflecting Tucson’s diversity.

With several pieces of framed artwork—including two posters
comprised of heart shapes—decorating her courtroom’s walls, Segal
was one of the four judges marrying people on this evening. The grooms
and brides to be would be assigned to judges by the staff on a rotating
basis and enter the small courtroom one group at a time.

Before the wedding parties started arriving, Segal donned her black
robe and rearranged the potted plastic bamboo tree at the front of the
room.

The first couple Segal married in a five-minute ceremony was dressed
in ironed jeans and white shirts. They were older and were accompanied
by seven acquaintances, including a giggling flower girl. The newlyweds
ended the ceremony with a short kiss befitting their age.

In flip flops and jeans, the next
couple—20-somethings—held hands and smiled broadly
throughout the proceedings. Their first kiss as a married couple went
on for quite awhile, bringing a few snide comments from the handful of
friends accompanying them.

It just goes to show: “The people in this court are just regular
people,” Segal says, on Pima County’s justice court system.

This article appears in May 21-27, 2009.