There were quite a few people in our hall that got disfellowshipped over the years. Like Coffee House Girl, I'd get tense too- it just made me feel so awkward. Two of the individuals were my friends, and I knew their circumstances. It's still pretty weird though. When you sit at the back of the hall, you can see husbands and wives turn to eachother and whisper, hear kids whisper 'what does that mean?' and the persons family members with their heads down, cheeks red, tears...
There was so much gossip in that Kingdom Hall, that I was never surprised. It seemed like someone always knew something incriminating or details about another person, and then a few months later they would be disfellowshipped. It's too bad. There was a lot of unhappiness, and deep rooted anger from how people's children were treated in Judicial Meetings (and then the decision as to whether they were privately reproved/publicly reproved/disfellowshipped).
It makes me sad to think about all the familys that lost those years with their kids (or friends) because of it, life is too short not to talk to someone because of a choice they made, and someone else got to judge.