The article focuses on author's experience about the work culture in courts. The lawyers pay $30 a day to the person if his employer suspends his salary while he is out or is unemployed or self-employed. The author sat through three days of the trial and then learned he was one of the alternate jurors. He was surprised that this jury didn't just throw up its hands and let the defendant off scot-free, considering the weakness of the prosecution's case and the fact that none of the involved parties seemed to care. They spent two days dissecting and debating the issues of the case and finally settled on a verdict of guilty of simple assault, not guilty on the deadly weapon charge.