The night before the hearing, I thought to myself, "Hmmm I think I wanna see this." I set the alarm on my phone so I could get up, shower, have my mandatory coffee and wander up to the courthouse. However, it seems I chose to utilize that stupid and yet irresistible function of the "snooze" feature. I woke up giving myself 15 minutes to get dressed, consume 1/2 cup of coffee and grab my cameras. Trust me, I'm not sure how I managed to even put shoes on without having my mandatory 2 cups of caffeine.

  The courthouse is only a couple of blocks from my house. Upon arriving, I expected to see the hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, the town was expecting. I was there by 7:45 am and had every intention of just shooting the masses and the media frenzy until the doors opened at 9 am.   There was definitely a media frenzy, satellite trucks everywhere, reporters all standing in the semi-darkness and gentle drizzle, reporting "LIVE FROM COUPEVILLE". I almost thought I was in th wrong place because when I looked at the actual entrance to the courthouse, there was only 3 women standing there. Let me backup for a second, I promise to come back to this.  

My beautiful little quaint town of Coupeville, is basically just that. Everyone knows everyone, it's the kind of town that when you go to the grocery store, expect an extra 20 minutes of catching up on the town news. We wave at each other when we see each other on the streets. We are accustomed to large crowds once a year during the Annual Arts & Crafts Festival. Normally the only time we will see a Seattle news truck is when there has been a pretty severe windstorm. Exciting stuff, but hey, I love it here because of these facts. All of our local coffee shops, restaurants etc expected to make bank on this particular day. Hell, there was even a guy selling Christmas wreaths outside of the courthouse. Until the sheriff asked for his vendor permit.

So basically the masses we were expecting must have also hit their snooze button and chose not to show up.   OK, back to the 3 ladies at the courthouse entrance. Two of them were young ladies, around 19 or 20, I would guess. When I approached them, I asked if this was the line to get in. They said yes, and I was shocked, I thought, what the hell? I might stay and actually watch the hearing. These 2 girls got there at 5 am clinching the first spot in line. The other lady had left her graveyard shift and thought she might as well come and watch what the news had been talking non-stop about. I had a lovely time standing in line with these gals, chatting about what was going on. As the time passed more people showed up and I noticed the young ladies getting interviewed every 5 minutes. The media saw 2 pretty young blonde girls and though "ChaChing! Here's our story...Barefoot Bandit Groupies!". I can tell you from standing with them for almost 2 hrs, they were NOT groupies, they were supporters and curious, just like everyone else who showed up.  

So at one point my phone shows me I have a text message from my girlfriend that read , "Am I watching you on the news right now?". Crap. Yup, all the live news cameras were on us. Did I shower and pretty it up a bit? Nope. Hair in a ponytail, my favorite jeans and sneakers on. It wasn't only local friends who saw me, I had a facebook friend from North Carolina saying he saw me too.  

As 9 am approached, one of the court representatives had come out and addressed the media. He did a roll call of all the pre-approved media and said he would come back and get them to take in the courtroom. He saw me with my cameras and inquired if I was press, to which I replied, "Yes." I am press, maybe not news press, but I am press. Shooting for 3 music publications and 2 radio stations count as press right?

He said, "I need you to stand on the other side over here with the rest of the press in the stand-by area. If I can fit you in, I will."  

Ok wait....what???? I'm in the press standby area now? No way.

For a brief moment I felt all official like, but knew there was no way I was going to be let in and seated in the press area. Wrong. About 10 minutes later he comes back out and explains to the other 7 people around me that they were duplicates of pre-approved publications, then he looks right at me and says, "I have 1 seat left, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to the courtroom." The lack of my normal caffeine consumption had me questioning whether or not I was hallucinating. And yet there I was at security emptying my coat pockets and going through the scanner thing , which I think looks like a portal into a different world. Clear. I did not bring a purse or any ID, just 5 pens in my coat pocket (don't ask), my cell phone and my cameras.  

Next thing I know, I am sitting down in the last available seat. Hello NY Times, CNN, Fox News, I'm Jenn and I shoot for AMP Magazine. ( I did not say this out loud of course). As I make myself comfortable sitting elbow to elbow with my fellow colleagues <cough cough>, I cross my legs like only the professionals do, and  I hear the most horrific sound of the crotch of my jeans ripping out....completely. Oh....my....gosh....really? That's just fant-fricken-tastic!!! Did I mention the press box was actually the jury box? So all of us are facing the whole courtroom! Had another lovely little conversation with myself that consisted of "Ok, really? Now what?" and  decided that it would be inappropriate for me to continue sitting there. There was a tiny little spot in the back corner that had my name written all over it.  

Despite the wardrobe malfunction, I could not believe I was there, and knew nothing else could go wrong. Did I mention that I had shot 3 concerts in Seattle the week before? Yeah, I didn't think about either until one of my cameras LCD screen started flashing "Change Battery Pack". Ooops. Thank goodness for having 2 cameras! Except I noticed my 2nd camera's battery was flashing on low. Colton hadn't even entered the courtroom yet. No camera bag to yank an extra battery out of. So I "Tebowed" it for a brief second praying there would be enough juice left that I might actually get one photo of Mr. Barefoot Bandit. Apparently "Tebowing" actually works, because that camera fought like a trooper pulling a 4th quarter miracle! I got a lot of great shots until the moment it actually just flat out died of exhaustion. At that very point, both the prosecution and defense asked for a brief recess. THANK YOU!!!!!!! (I actually thought about  "Tebowing" that moment) .

Once the judge left, I packed my dead camera's and crotchless self  up, and hightailed it home.   Like the title of this article states, "Not your Average Reporter".

If you are unaware of Colton Harris Moore, and his criminal history, you must not have a TV. I will not go into all the details, but I will encourage you to go to wikipedia so that you can learn some of his background and history. I guarantee you will not look at him, or his case the same. Here are my thoughts on the hearing and his sentencing.  

When he first entered the courtroom, he did so with integrity. He was respectful and did as he was instructed. At 6'5 he's a big boy, but his demeanor was that of someone who felt like crap for what they did, so you didn't really notice his height.

There was no coaching or acting, he waited for what he deserved, which the judge thought was 7 1/2 years. I'm telling you right now, if I hear anyone bash Ms. Churchill or the system, I will tell them to do their homework first.

  Colton is 20 yrs old, but he has been on his own since he was a very young child. Take the time to hear his story before you go off on how he didn't get enough time.Don't get me wrong, I'm all bout the do the crime, do the time thing.The judge took everything into consideration and said that his upbringing is not an excuse for his behavior, but it had to be taken into consideration.

If I told you some things like  his father who was sent to jail when he was a toddler, choked Colton at a family function and almost killed him, his mother is an alcoholic who spent all their money on beer & cigarettes and  often shot a rifle in their backyard intoxicated, while cussing so loud the neighbors had to call the cops. When Child Protective Services was called, all they found in the fridge was moldy fries and a few eggs.

This is what led him to steal food. He didn't have any food at home. Yes, he stole things like boats , planes, food, clothes etc, but none of his crimes physically hurt anyone except financially. He has agreed with the movie and book deal, to pay restituion to his victims. I feel his mother should be the one on trial. As a parent myself, I find her behavior far more atrocious than the crimes he committed.

He did not begin stealing because he thought it was "fun". He did it because his belly was empty and he was hungry. As I watched him in the courtroom, my heart broke hearing his story. And yet he took it like a man, knowing what he did was wrong. Ready to face his consequences. And before you go off ranting about how many things he stole and he should have a stiffer sentence, keep in mind there are people who have killed others while drinking and driving and have been given shorter sentences than Colton received.

  Good luck Colton, I hope you get the help you deserve and I truly hope you can turn all of this around and do something good with it.