Order in the court.

The first thing one usually learns about court, be it criminal, civil, family, or probate, is that it doesn't work like it does on TV. Most of what happens in a courtroom is confusing and boring to the average person and rarely is it dramatic.

First, a little about myself: My name is Keith Whitcomb Jr. I live in Bennington, Vt. and began working at the Bennington Banner, a small daily newspaper, in 2008. Since 2009 I have been covering Bennington Superior Court; mostly its criminal division, but I cover all courts where there is a Bennington County connection. I have no legal training outside what I've observed and learned in the past four years, but I decided this blog might be a way to better inform people about some of the things I typically write about for the paper. Things like what's the deal with bail bond amounts, habitual offender enhancements, conditions of release, and so on. Based on comments I see posted to the Internet, emails and calls I've received over the years, I think some of the finer points of the legal system are unknown to many.

 Let's keep in mind that when I'm explaining how an aspect of the legal system works I'm not condoning or condemning it. My goal is to simply tell people how something works and maybe explain the rationale behind it. I'm also not interested in passing judgment over people or their cases. That's not my role and I'm happy with that. I'd like to update this blog at least once a week but in any case I plan to inform people of updates through Twitter. You can follow me there @KWhitcombjr.