Lindh is in a civilian court because he is a US citizen. BTW, that civilian court is about 10 miles from my house - and apparently he is sleeping in the City of Alexandria jail, which seems very strange to me, although I don't really know for sure where he is jailed. People who were being tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia used to be housed in Lorton Prison, but Lorton, thank goodness, has been shut down. Lorton used to be run by the District of Columbia, who rented the space from Fairfax, and it was full, as you can imagine, with drug dealers and murderers. The lease expired and Fairfax refused to renew it, so D.C.'s prisoners are now somewhere in Pennsylvania, and the Lorton area (down the road from me) is being turned into yet another yuppie Fairfax setting, improving the property values considerably.
Alexandria is mega-yuppie because it's right across the Potomac from D.C. but it's not D.C. Low crime, high property values, decent schools. The schools are not as good as Fairfax but pretty close, and the houses are much, much more expensive.
They built a new federal courthouse a few years ago - it is huge, and it is gorgeous. Wonderful wood everywhere, beautiful lights, beautiful tile, you name it, like a fancy office building. It must have cost a fortune.
The chief judge at the time, Bryant, was a stickler for time, so the court is called the "rocket docket" - he never allowed continuances. On the facade is a tortoise and a hare, and the motto, "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied." |
