Photo Credit: Kelly Shimoda for the New York Times

Psychiatric dogs have been in use for several years.  They routinely help vets cope with PTSD and trauma victims establish their lives again and now psychiatric dogs are finding a new place to provide comfort–the courtroom. Rosie, a golden retriever has recently been put to use to aid rape victims who find it distressing to confront their perpetrators in court. Notably leaning against an anxious person giving testimony, she provides comfort to those who feel  overwhelmed. Naturally, defense attorneys say that the presence of a cute dog prejudices the case against their clients but courts are beginning to feel inclined to use these doggie companions who make a difficult procedure all that easier.

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From Disorderly Conduct: Verbatim Excerpts from Actual Cases by Rodney R. Jones, Charles M. Sevilla and Gerald F. Uelmen, here's an actual court transcript featuring The Who:

The Court: I got the Quadrophenia, but then he said somebody played in it, and I didn’t get that.

Prosecutor: The Who.

The Court: The what?

Witness: Musicians.

Prosecutor: The Who.

Witness: The Who.

The Court: Who?

Witness: The Who. That’s the name of the band.

The Court: So that’s the name of the group, the Who?

Witness: Yes, the Who.

The Court: Not the What? The Who?

Witness: No, the Who.

The Court: You got it, everybody? The Quadrophenia is a movie with the Who.

Witness: Punk rockers.

The Court: All right.

Abbott and Costello would've been proud! Via Futility Closet

Chris Roth served on a jury for a civil case that lasted for seven days. The case was interesting (involving a stripper), but seven days in a jury box is still a long time. Jurors were given notebooks to jot down important things, so Roth drew pictures. Lots of them, which you can see at his blog. Link

Here’s proof that people will sue just for about anything: a plaintiff named Janine Sugawara sued the makers of Cap’N Crunch Crunch Berries cereal because she found out that the "crunchberries" are not really berries!

In another proof that the judicial system works,  the judge dismissed her complaint:

On May 21, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she had purchased “Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries” because she believed “crunchberries” were real fruit. The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said “berries” were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls, and that although the product did contain some strawberry fruit concentrate, it was not otherwise redeemed by fruit. She sued, on behalf of herself and all similarly situated consumers who also apparently believed that there are fields somewhere in our land thronged by crunchberry bushes.

Cap’n According to the complaint, Sugawara and other consumers were misled not only by the use of the word “berries” in the name, but also by the front of the box, which features the product’s namesake, Cap’n Crunch, aggressively “thrusting a spoonful of ‘Crunchberries’ at the prospective buyer.” Plaintiff claimed that this message was reinforced by other marketing representing the product as a “combination of Crunch biscuits and colorful red, purple, teal and green berries.” Yet in actuality, the product contained “no berries of any kind.” Plaintiff brought claims for fraud, breach of warranty, and our notorious and ever-popular California Unfair Competition Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

Link – via kevinunderhill

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by dradell.

That’s when he got into more trouble:

"I went to the bank and got $56 worth of rolled pennies and went down to the court house and they refused to take it. They had told me to bring cash. I was under the assumption this was cash."

Non-cents? Not really. Pennies are legal tender. In fact, at the courthouse WCBS-TV found a sign saying cash is accepted. That’s why the Nutley resident said he fought back, calling the court and convincing workers there to take his pennies.

But the 22-year-old said there was a condition — that he write his driver’s license number on each roll. "I simply asked them if I would have to do just this if I were handing in $56 bill. Would I have to write my driver’s license number on each bill? They had no response," Gilberti said.

And even more shocking he said: "Then I found out there was a warrant out for my arrest."

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