Mice seek justice

WEST PALM BEACH -- Of mice and men, there are tales aplenty at the Palm Beach County Courthouse.

Mice falling from ceiling tiles, scuttling down corridors, munching papers and potato chips - so many sightings that some staffers check their handbags for stowaways before leaving the building each day.

Lannis Waters/The Post Circuit Judge Krista Marx keeps this trap at her feet in the courtroom. Lannis Waters/The Post Facilities Manager Robert Zuppinger said he's put out 20 or 30 traps, little boxes with a sticky board inside the mice get marooned upon.

Last week, a mouse scampered around a courtroom in the midst of a burglary trial. Circuit Judge Krista Marx contained her yelps as the critter roamed for an hour. Thank goodness the verdict ended up being a not guilty, she said.

"I know if it had been guilty, they would have said the jury was distracted and we want a new trial," Marx said.

There's an infestation, Marx said. But she's armed: a mousetrap is now right at the judge's feet.

Seven floors down from Marx's courtroom, case manager Jill Mitchell bangs the walls of her cubicle each day before entering to let the mice know she's there. Curiously, they passed on the Snickers on Mitchell's desk and gnawed away on paper instead.

"I no longer leave files out. I'm afraid they'll get eaten," Mitchell said.

There are sightings in the law library on the ground floor, usually around 3 p.m. Scratching can be heard behind press room walls. Traffic homicide prosecutor Ellen Roberts, in the state attorney's office building across the street, has one she nicknamed "Moses."

In the county's Victim Services office on the fifth floor, employees found one dead in a hallway last week and saw others running around.

"They're so cute," said Nancy Dixon, head of the office. "We like to put a positive spin on our mice."