I assure you, all judges are a little different. An attorney friend of mine recently had a ticket dismissed on similar grounds -- "Neat arugment -- that was entertaining, case dismissed."
Dantilla -- if a defendant is unprepared for a witness to make an appearance at trial, or worse, is counting on said failure to appear as the critical component to his defense, he deserves to lose. More power to your friend for showing up regularly.
Dan