On the recordMarch 10, 2010
January 4, 2010, was a Monday morning, the first Monday morning of the new year. This incident happened that morning. Monday mornings are always very busy, if not the busiest times, at courthouses throughout America. People are coming in to litigate their disputes, to answer calendar calls, to answer trial calendars. There are witnesses who have been subpoenaed. There are jurors who have come to court, having been notified that they need to be there. There are courthouse workers. Of course, you pass through security. It's just like we do here at the United States Capitol and in our legislative office buildings. We pass through security. Sometimes, when people are in a hurry, they get a little antsy, and they take that out on the security officials. Though, I will tell you, despite all that was ongoing on that morning, Judge Poe, as you well know of these things that I just spoke of, on that day, a madman entered the courthouse and struck at a very soft part of security, which is when you walk right in the door and before you go through security. In the midst of all of that activity going on, he killed Officer Stanley Cooper, and he wounded Marshal Joe Gardner. Had it not been for their selfless and professional conduct at the time, there is no doubt that others could have lost their lives or could have been wounded as well. So everywhere we have security checkpoints, the officers who man those checkpoints deserve our respect. They deserve our cooperation.
