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BY ROSEMARYSCHARRENBROICHIn the poorly lit, high-ceilinged room of the Brooklyn Criminal Courts building, night court recess comes to an end as the bridgeman calls out his cases like a professional auctioneer.%u201c Docket-number-318576-Willie Frank-charged-with-possession-ofdangerous-weapon-a-felonysigned complainant-Officer-Quill. %u2019 %u2019%u201c Your honor,%u201d pleads the Legal Aid attorney, %u201c I%u2019d like to move for dismissal.%u201d%u201c Grounds?%u201d asks the judge, expressionless behind his thick glasses.%u201c No previous arrests, your honor. Same job, six years. Same address, six years.%u201d%u201c Yes, your honor,%u201d adds the arresting officer in a soft voice. %u201c He%u2019s a security guard with First National.%u201d%u201c I don%u2019t care about that,%u201d the judge snaps. %u201c He was carrying a loaded gun without a permit, right? Well, wasn%u2019t he? Yes, your honor, but,%u201d the officer intercedes.The officer pleading for the man he arrested? The young lawyer in the first row explains to his companion, %u201c Carrying a loaded weapon is a felony, so it%u2019s a good collar for the cop. But he%u2019s sympathetic, because they%u2019re in the same line of work. The cop probably has three unregistered pistols back home on the Island or wherever he lives.%u201d%u201c That%u2019s $2,500 bailbond, Mr. Frank,%u201d the judge says, \cash. Got it?%u201d Willie Frank shakes his head. %u201c Park him,%u201d the judge adds with finality and hands the file back to the bridgeman.There are few, if any, sightseers on a week-day night. The carnival atmosphere that prevails on Fridayand Saturday nights owes itself largely to those who come to gawk and poke fun at the steady stream of prostitutes, drunks, and downand-outers of all sorts that find them selves caught in the mechanics of arraignment.Tonight, the audience is thin and consists mostly of complainants or friends and relatives of those inside the pen waiting to be arraigned. The atmosphere is subdued and familiar, almost cozy. There are less theatrics and less noise and the private pain of those involved more easily rises to the surface.%u2018 %u2018 Docket-number-318625-Joseph Sprant-charged-with-possessionof-dangerous-drugs-a-misdemeanor-signed-complainant-Sgt. -Fox. %u2019 %u2019\section 170.56, your honor. I%u2019d like to point out it was a very small amount and that it was marijuana.%u201dAn attractive, blond woman in her early forties sits tensely, her hands clasped around her knees. Her white knit pants suit seems incredibly dazzling in the dingy court room. Her daughter is going to be arraigned on a drug charge and while she waits, her gaze wanders now and then to the words high above the judge%u2019s bench: %u201c In God We Trust.%u201d She sits forward, listening intently to the case before the bench.The young lawyer in the first row passed the bar a few months ago. He is proud of his knowledgeability and explains away the bewildering jargon and gestures to his companion, %u201c An A.C.D. is an adjournment in contem plation of dismissal. It%u2019s used for youthful first offenders. In six months, the case is officially dismissed, if he stays clean.%u201d The case is adjourned.Policemen, both uniformed and plainclothes, are a familiarsight in the corridors of the Criminal Court building. The litter,too, Is a regular feature. [Richard Solomon Photo]A tall man wearing a purple fez moved up from the back of the room when the session opened. He operates a back hoe for the city. His younger brother is being arraigned on a narcotics charge. He has been waiting since 8 p.m. and is now fast asleep with his head thrown back and his mouth open.A boy about seven years old stands in front of the man and stares incredulously. The boy is holding a fork upon which is skewered a piece of ripe, red watermelon. The juice is trickling down his chin.%u201c LaRue. LaRue. I am speaking to you,%u201d an old woman calls softly from behind. On the seat beside her are several cloth shopping bags, one of which is neatly spread like a tablecloth to hold a few pieces of fried chicken and a large slice of watermelon.She rises wearily from the bench, but LaRue darts back to her. She is waiting for her son, LaRue%u2019s father, to be arraigned for assaulting a policeman. %u201c You come when I call, hear?%u201dThe judge is speaking to a small, dark man whose head is lowered and whose hands hang limply at his sides. %u201c Papo, you stay away from her. Do you hear me? Don%u2019t you threaten her or bother her in any way.%u201d The small man nods and mumbles.%u201c She never lets him see the kids, your honor,%u201d puts in Legal Aid.The judge shakes his head slowly. %u201cTake this over to Family Court, Mr. Wiley. I%u2019m tired of seeing him here. Family Court,CONTINUKD ON PACK thRelatives and friends of both defendants and complainants aswell as the just-plain curious attend night court sessions. Here,visitors wait to enter the courtroom. [Richard Solomon Photo]Criminal Court SolvesBacklog Woes withNight Court SessionsBY EILEEN BLAIROf the 55,000 cases handled last year in the Criminal Court Bureau of the Brooklyn D istrict A tto rney%u2019s office, it is estimated that one-third of those cases were heard in night court. According to Robert Kaye, Deputy Chief of the Crim inal Court Bureau, night court differs little from its day counterpart as to complexion of cases and courtroom atmosphere. Essentially, night court is merely an extension of day court, in session from 6 p.m. to as late as 1 a.m., depending on the nature of the case load and the inclination of the presiding judge. The night session is designed to expedite the arraignment process.%u201c Cases involving arrests made after 2 p.m. until early evening usually end up being arraigned in night co u rt,%u2019 %u2019 explained Kaye. Upon arrest, booking, fin %u00adgerprinting and a record check through Albany Usually take about three hours. During that time, the party arrested is usually detained at the Precinct, %u2019 %u2019arraignm ents at night, once the paper work hasbeen processed, prevent many unnecessary overnight incarcerations,%u201d continued Kaye since it is during the arraignm ent process that charges are explained, a plea is entered and the case may be dismissed or bail (if applicable) and a hearing date set.Night court%u2019s reputation for carnival-like spectacle goes back some years according to Kaye, when dragnet arrests for prostitution and gam bling were commonplace, but such dragnets are no longer conducted. Fifty to 80 cases, both misdemeanors and felonies, may be heard in a night court session and the processing is as efficient and the personnel involved of the same caliber as the regular daytime court said Kaye.Certainly, the facilities are the same. At 120 Schermerhorn St., home of the Criminal Court, a visitor can witness, both day and evening, lawyers conferring with clie n ts%u2019 families in marble lined and often litter strewn halls. Blue shirted policemen engage in back slapping conversations with associatesand court officers amble about with an air of seen-itall importance. Anxiouslooking relatives smoke cigarettes and eye the uniformed contingent warily, while the more blase sit on the f Nor with paper-cupped cokes or ice cream pops. The second floor complaint room, where citizens making the com plaint and arresting officers confer with Assistant District Attorneys (ADA), could easily be mistaken for a down and out OTB office. Although a renovation is im m inent, currently, victims of crimes have to tell their story to the ADA amid the clacking of typewriters and whir of an airconditioning system in closet sized cubicles where typist, attorney, police officer and complainent huddle like teammates at the sidelines.But despite the less than elegant facilities, hundreds of cases each day wend their way from the complaint room to the docket room and into the court. One is grateful that the progress of justice at 120 Schermerhorn St. is better than that of its elevator service.May 30, 1974, PHOENIX, Page 5