Court TV be damned, Ed and Harriet Neufeld are only interested in the real thing and all its messy, lurid details.
Each week, according to the Gazette, 79-year-old Ed, a retired civil engineer, and 77-year-old Harriet, once an aspiring lawyer, strike out from their home at the Leisure World retirement community in Aspen Hill to check out the most amusing trials at the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville.
Upon arrival, they examine the docket to see the most interesting deliberations of the day, then discuss the proceedings with each other on the way home. The fact that they are firsthand witnesses to events that have serious consequences on people's lives doesn't escape them, however.
"When you sit there, you see these people are on trial for their lives," Ed said. "Not necessarily life and death, but just the prospect of spending 10 or 15 years in prison."
"I can't imagine that," Harriett said.
But she can definitely watch it.
