Second-guessing a court decision is easy to do, as is speculating on the legal strategy that led to that decision.

But despite the ease with which these things can be done, it remains that lay people expounding on the law is no different than looking at the face of a broken clock and being able to tell what’s wrong with its internal mechanisms.

Like a clock, the law’s many components must mesh to work as intended, making it nearly impossible for the average person to understand precisely why some cases transpire the way they do.

That seems to be the situation following the motions hearing in circuit court last week on the charges faced by Tyler Mailloux, who stood accused of leaving the scene of the accident that claimed the life of 14-year-old Gavin Knupp on Grays Corner Road last July.

The court’s acceptance of the defense motion to dismiss the charges because they should have been filed in district court instead has been followed by plenty of theories on how  that could have happened and what it means.

Among these is the wildly absurd notion that the fix was in. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen here. Another theory making the rounds is that State’s Attorney Kristin Heiser made a huge mistake by going to circuit court instead of district court, which, according to the judge, has jurisdiction.

The clear answer to that, however, is maybe and maybe not. That all depends on how the Appellate Court of Maryland rules on the appeal her office filed immediately after last week’s motions hearing.

Then, too, the public should consider what would have been said had Heiser gone first to district court where lighter penalties could be imposed. That she was pursuing a lesser degree of justice or was going too easy on the defendant for reasons unknown?

Speculation, as satisfying as it may be personally, serves no purpose. What remains to be done now is wait to see how the appeals court rules, and what happens after that. Assuming any other posture will have no bearing on whether and how this clock keeps on ticking.