Walking into the municipal court in downtown Providence, Jennifer looked like any other person facing a stack of unpaid parking tickets. Behind the bench sat Judge Frank Caprio, known for his firm but compassionate grasp of the law.

“Jennifer, you have three parking tickets,” the judge began. “With penalties, it’s $200. What do you want to tell me about these?”

But before Jennifer explained the “why,” she made a request that caused the entire courtroom to pause. “Can I have my attorney represent me?”

The judge looked around. There were no high-priced lawyers in suits waiting in the wings. “Oh, you want one of the attorneys up here, huh? Who do you want?”

Jennifer didn’t hesitate: “Miss Christina.”

The Surprise Defense

With a smile, the judge called “Christina” to the front. She wasn’t a member of the Bar Association; she was a young girl who had been sitting in the courtroom. By “popular demand,” the judge invited the child to stand by his side and help him decide the fate of the case.

With her new “counsel” in place, Jennifer offered her plea: “Guilty with an explanation.”

The story was one of a grandmother’s sacrifice. Jennifer had registered a car in her own name to help her 35-year-old son and his girlfriend, who were struggling financially. She did it for the sake of her grandson. But the favor had backfired; the couple kept racking up tickets in the busy city center, and Jennifer was the one left holding the bag.

“I don’t know where they’re at,” Jennifer admitted, a note of exhaustion in her voice. “But I tried to help out.”

The Verdict of the Heart

The judge looked at the $200 total. “I’m not going to dismiss it,” he told Jennifer. Then, he turned to his pint-sized “attorney.”

“The original tickets were $75. We could do $200, $75, or something less,” the judge whispered to Christina. “What do you think we should do?”

Without missing a beat, the little girl made her ruling: “$40.”

The judge chuckled. He noted that Christina clearly knew her “client”—a woman with a big heart who was being penalized for her kindness toward her family. Even Jennifer’s own mother was in the back of the room, watching the scene unfold with a smile.

A Fair Compromise

“Well, I brought Christina up, so I guess I have to listen to her judgment,” the judge declared.

He slashed the $200 fine down to the $40 recommended by the child. It was a fair middle ground—high enough to serve as a lesson for Jennifer to hold her son accountable, but low enough not to crush a grandmother who was just trying to keep her family afloat.

As Jennifer prepared to pay, she looked at her young “attorney” with gratitude. “Thank you, Christina. You’re awesome!”

In the heart of Providence, a potentially stressful day ended with laughter and a reminder that sometimes, the best legal advice comes from the simplest of hearts.