How do you prepare to enter the courthouse?
Entering and leaving the courthouse — whether it is 100 Centre Street, Manhattan’s main criminal court building, or across the street at 111 Centre, where Mr. Combs was tried — is often a carefully coordinated exercise involving lawyers, court officers and drivers. The officers escort high-profile people in and out of the buildings at the request of their lawyers, who typically arrange for someone to call a driver parked nearby to pick their clients up once their day in court is done.
If everything goes smoothly, the driver should pull up just in time to meet the famous passenger, almost always in a black S.U.V. with tinted windows because “it gives you the allure of being someone who needs a blacked-out, tinted S.U.V.,” said Joseph Tacopina, a lawyer who has defended a number of celebrities.
Sometimes, the choreography works. After testifying in May at the trial of a man accused of stalking her, Uma Thurman rushed out a side exit, boyfriend in tow. Barricades set up by the court officers held back onlookers, providing Ms. Thurman with an unimpeded path to a black S.U.V.In contrast, Jack Jordan, the man eventually convicted of stalking her, one day casually walked out after he had been sentenced and released, and asked a photographer for a ride.
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