There’s a certain amount of relief when a major trial end.  Jackson -vs- AEG wrapped up this week and I have to admit, I’m a little sad.

I’ve covered some of the biggest trials; O.J. Simpson (criminal, civil, criminal), Phil Spector, Lindsay Lohan and the Jacksons (mostly Michael) through my whole career in news.

(Somehow I missed the Robert Blake trial entirely and likewise for Kobe Bryant.)

Covering court isn’t really much fun and I’m lucky in that most of the time I’ve been randomly thrown into the mix rather than having to be on the front line every day.

It’s a grind, but there is the sense of witnessing history.

The day verdicts are read is usually an all hands on deck kind of day.  This week we were ready for the mad rush and I knew my assignment well ahead of time.

I’d be stationed in our SAT truck which had been sitting in position in front of the courthouse for nearly a week.

The plan was that as soon as the call went out, I’d rush to downtown and establish two satellite paths out.

I got the call as I was driving into work for my regular shift and was near downtown.

Cue the action sequence music.

There was no need to rush, but I got to the courthouse in less than five minutes and was on the bird faster than the folks back at the station would have believed possible.

Gosh, I love it when circumstances make me look like an awesome worker.

Most of the guys in this shot had tougher jobs than I did for this assignment.  Joel Fallon (I’m standing next to him) was actually the photographer who clocked the most hours covering this trial.

It was grueling and he’s glad it’s over, but like I said earlier, I’m kind of sad that we’re done with it.

I mean, who knows when we’ll get to cover another Jackson trial.

It really could be a couple of years.