Babies!!

My wife and I just had a baby girl!! It's pretty amazing that she's finally here.

While I was out of the office on paternity leave I missed some court dates. I keep hearing congratulations from clients who had court dates. I've never had such considerate clients before. It's like they forget the reason we know each other for a second and their faces brighten. Or maybe, I forget why we're talking to each other?

I just talked to a client who had a girl, just like us, and only a week after mine. It was a pretty funny conversation actually. We congratulated each other, and had a little laugh. It was a nice change of pace from my normal client conversations.....

Sensational!!

Here's CNN.com's current front page story:

"A call to the Secret Witness tip line helped police break CNN's first featured cold case: the slaying of college student Brianna Denison, investigators say. James Michael Biela, a 27-year-old construction worker with an alleged thong fetish was arrested last week. Biela is charged with murdering Denison by strangulation."

If the picture of the pretty white female on the front page didn't grab your attention, the fact that she was murdered and the words "thong fetish" should pull you into the story. So much for James Michael Biela's public image. Goodbye "presumed innocent," it was nice to know you ever so briefly. What can I say, but "what the fuck CNN? When did you go Nancy-Fox-News-Grace Crazy?"

I blame Nancy grace for a lot of what's wrong with the Media, and I am probably underestimating her. Can I coin a new phrase? I'll call it "The grace Effect." Any time a SENSATIONAL news story bubbles to the surface of the shit-pool that is crime reporting and gets more attention than it deserves, we'll blame The grace Effect.

Off the top of my head, stories that got graced: Maddie and Caylee are two recent ones. Sadly, I don't have to describe these beyond their first names. They're little white girls, so they get the extra attention. Just thought of another: Elizabeth Smart. Here's a video of Elizabeth reminding us that Nance's crazy is deep and probably shared with her crazy ass audience.



Yes, I know I didn't capitalize Nancy's last name. I'm just hoping that catches on too, and maybe it'll rub off and she'll actually get some grace, or class, or just manners.... yeah, I doubt it too.

Why 'Crime' vs. 'Law'

I wrote this entry back in May of 2008. I left it in the editing stage without publishing it until now. Why? I have no idea. But I was looking at the CNN 'Law' page recently, and that prompted me to go ahead and release these words:

"Crime" sells. Is "Law" boring?

CNN used to have the "Law" section on the front page of their web site. It has been replaced by a link to their "Crime" page. There is still a page dedicated to "Law" but it is not necessarily the sensational coverage that is devoted to the "Crime" stories. "Crime" must sell more virtual papers. Who wants to read about 'lawsuits' when you can look at 'prosecutions?'

What's the difference? Why not cover the crimes under the "Law" section? I suppose people have always been obsessed with crime and criminals in a romantic sort of way. That all depends on media exposure etc. The movie "The Assassination of Jesse James" shows an interesting perspective on this phenomenon. Jesse James went from evil killer to murdered victim in the public eye. His killer was assassinated as well, and nobody mourned him. He had killed a celebrity.

Of course, white blonde women are the media wet dreams in the "Crime" section. It doesn't matter if they are the victim or the alleged criminal, if it's a white female, it's covered. If she's blonde, well that just means NATIONAL coverage. Look at the Barbie Bandits from here in Georgia. It was well reported that they were "Bank Robbers" who stole thousands from a bank. Their minimal sentences were well covered by national news outlets. Their black, male co-defendant's sentence hardly registered on the local news though. He was found to be much more culpable than the blondies, and he got 25 years to serve his involvement in their scheme.

I guess as a criminal defense lawyer, "Crime" is more interesting to me too.

Judge Sets Bond for Her Own Husband

It has come to light that a Georgia judge in a current contested election had previously set a bond for her husband in a case where she was the alleged victim. This is against all rules of judicial ethics and certainly impeachable. The crazy part is that the judge is defending herself in the media. Typical political responses started up right away, such as, "you shouldn't be getting into my personal life."

http://www.crossroadsnews.com/articles/2008/10/01/news/01_hunterbond.txt

When I clicked on the story, the newspaper's website showed ads on the story page. In a very appropriate and well placed coincidence, the ad that showed up on that page was an ad for the very same unethical judge.

Appellate Decision

My case was quoted today in a newsletter for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers! I wrote an appeal for a case that my predecessor won at trial, which the State appealed. It was my first appeal (I didn't really know what I was doing) and I got quoted for my favorable outcome. I didn't win the appeal, but I was successfull on one important aspect. I guess that's why we have to be happy with small victories.

It's so exciting to see your name in print!

Badboy

I had a client today with a pretty large tattoo on the inside of his forearm. Not too unusual. This tattoo said, "Badboy" though, which is descriptive and informative.

Slow posts

Posts here seem to slow down as my schedule gets less hectic. When I am busier at work, I look busier in the post department. That seems a little backwards to me, and I've only just realized this phenomenon. Everyone else seems to not post when they're busy, or when they're working more hours. Weird.

Needless to say, business has been slow lately. I'm going to be out of the office next week, which means I've handed my trial calendar over to a co-worker. She's in the division I came from, but she's got trial experience with felonies. I normally wouldn't want to dump trials on someone, but my judge is very irrationally anal-retentive about scheduling and would never move a calendar. Unless of course you are a fellow prosecutor, and then you get whatever you want. So, trial week stays the same, I will just be missing all the fun. I've still prepared my files, called defendants, tried to find witnesses, and all the fun prep work. But there's only so much to do when the only witness is your step son and the only testimony will be, "he punched me."

My co-worked pointed out that everytime I am on the eve of a trial calendar I say, "I'm a terrible lawyer and I need a new job." She says it's just the stress. I say I'm being practical. We'll just agree to disagree for now. This calendar is different of course, I'm not trying the cases. I doubt that there will be any trials anyway. Nothing has been going lately. Though that's probably because I've been preparing for trial. There's a strict law of the universe that goes along with misdemeanor cases. The more you prepare for trial, the less likely it is to go forward on the day of trial. So, the client who is most positively sure that his wife won't testify is the client who is most positively going to have to have a trial. The more sure you are that the state won't find that witness, the more likely they are to have that witness and two of his friends. That's just the way it works.

"I did hit her, but..."

Today I had a client in tears telling me that he had been in and out of jail for several months based on "these females" and lies. He was pretty upset in the holding cell outside the courtroom, and didn't want to enter a plea that would give him 60 days to serve followed by probation. That's far too long to spend in jail for "these females." So we had a bond hearing to try to get his bond reduced to something he may be able to make. Before the hearing I told him not to talk about the facts of the case itself, and not to make any admissions because they will use those against him. During the bond hearing he insisted on talking to the judge, so I reminded him not to mention anything about what happened on the night he was arrested. He told the judge that he had a job and that he wanted to get out, and then he said, "I mean, I did hit her, but..." and then I cut him off. Good work. If you were trying to get your bond denied and trying to give the State evidence to use against, you... mission accomplished!

My Desk Has Emerged

With Tuesday's trial calendar going away, I have suddenly found myself with fewer things to do than normal. This has helped my desk catch a breath of fresh air. The papers and files that had cluttered the top of my desk, now clutter either: a) the trash b) my file cabinet or c) someone else's now-more-cluttered-than my desk. It's nice to see that faux wood plastic/composite top to a lawyer's trusty work surface. I didn't realize how long it had been since we last saw each other.

Sadly, it will begin to get covered again soon. August is looking rather hectic with two trial calendars within three weeks of each other. Hopefully though, August will also include a trip up north for my parents to see my pregnant wife just before she has to stop flying!

Fixated on me

There is a guy who hangs out in front of a convenience store near our office. He has some serious mental health issues, but generally he's a nice guy who always says hi and makes coherent small talk. He sometimes gets behind on his meds and ends up in jail and we stop seeing him on the streets for a little while. Then he gets out and he's back on the square downtown and we chat about his situation.

Yesterday morning I saw him there and he called me over. He kept thinking I was someone else and asking about what he needed to do on his case. He told me several times that he was heading over to the county's mental health services to get his medication. He also gave me his doctor's name and number and told me that he would be at his appointment, (which is today). He's usually pretty much homeless, or close to it, so I bought him a coffee from the nearby shop. He really wanted a pack of cigs, but I only had $2 in change in my pocket, but he seemed happy with a coffee.

A few hours later he called and said that he was on his way up to my office. He showed up here and started such a delusional rant we were all taken aback at the things he was saying. He kept asking me for money because he thinks that I'm his caseworker. He couldn't get it out of his head that I'm the person that is supposed to give him his SSI check or cash or whatever. His ranting was going on and on until finally my supervisor called me over and told me to just leave him in the lobby. He'd get tired of waiting and leave, which he eventually did. I talked to one of our clinical social workers about him. He has fixated on me for some reason. Who knows why? Maybe my name is similar to some counselor he had in the past? Maybe he really appreciated the coffee that I bought for him?

He called again today and told me that he is over at the mental health center waiting for his appointment for his shot. Hopefully he's telling the truth and will get medicated soon. He also said that he spent the night there last night after I wouldn't give him his money. That started another rant regarding gettnig money from me. He asked if he should come to my office after his appointment to get a couple of hundred dollars... He also asked several times if this was really me on the phone. He sounds really paranoid and delusional, it's so sad to hear him repeating all this crazy stuff. It's also really hard to try to correct him in his delusions. I can only say "no, I'm not your caseworker" so many times. I don't really know what to say after a while. He eventually hung up the phone.

I hope he's getting his shot right now!

Tuesday Trial Day

Of my three DV cases called for trial today, zero of them went to trial today.

In one case, the persecutor in one of the cases asked for a continuance today, the day of trial. She says that her cop is out of town, or unavailable on vacation or something. The judge cheerfully granted her motion for continuance over my objection. This is pretty interesting in that it is entirely inconsistant with the judge's own "policy" for continuances. Her "policy" is not to allow a continuace if I ask for it, but to allow it if the state asks for it. It's a ridiculous double-standard that the she justifies to herself and tries to justfiy to us, but in the end it is still ridiculous. The judge is completely unwilling to follow the law when I present intelligent, accurate arguments which follow case law. In fact, she doesn't even wait for a response from the state when I make most of my arguments. For example the two continuances I requested: February: When I asked for a continuace on a case which I had been assigned to less than a week before trial, I got denied; April: When I asked for a continuace on a case which had been a bench trial just a few hours before we picked a jury, I got denied. In April, on my second request EVER, I get chastized for asking for too many continuances on trial calendars. SECOND in three months!! The state didn't even oppose a continuance in those cases...

Bar Complaints

I received notice of a complaint today. It is not a Bar Complaint yet, but it is a written complaint and the director of my office will respond on my behalf.

I represented this guy at trial a few months ago, and I got a directed verdict on two of three counts in the accusation. He was convicted of the third count, but he was time-served, no more jail time.

During the state's case he talked to me so much, and said the same thing over, and over, and over, and over so many times, I missed a lot of testimony from the state's only witness. So, in that regard, maybe I let him down by not asking the judge for a ball gag.

His complaints range from non-communication to refusal to ask for a Directed Verdict. That makes me wonder: "How did I get a Directed Verdict if I refused to ask for one?" In his letter he says that I should be disbarred.

Three Trials, Three Cases, One Day

Next Tuesday will be a good one. Three trials all scheduled for that day. Today I met with a client and his wife. The State's witness, the wife, keeps trying to tell the prosecutor that the cop is lying in his report. That she wasn't injured, that he made stuff up when he wrote the report. Of course, the prosecutor won't even meet with her. She won't agree to reduce the charges. Hopefully, she won't win at trial either. We're coming in with the 'victim' as a witness for the defense. This will be my first jury trial where I can say that.

Criminal Defense Blogs

There's currently a compilation of some Public Defender blogs over at Gideon's webpage (also listed in the links of this blog). It is a pretty big list of blogs, and often there are snippets and samples from a lot of them. This blog is currently not listed there, but I hope to make the cut soon!!

Along a similar line, Jaime, a criminal defense lawyer from Austin, is putting together a list of criminal law related blogs. You can find it here.

I've submitted this blog, maybe it will get noticed? Jaime's idea may turn into a good place to check for criminal law blog updates from around the country, sort of like Gideon's tracking of the Public Defender blog world.

Revoke for the Balance

"Revoke for the balance"

Words that do not go well together?

Words that you don't like to hear?

Words that give you a sinking feeling?

The real answer: Words I heard today.


My Motion to Recuse the Judge was denied. I stood alone with my client. He had a defeated look on his face. She revoked the balance of his probation.

Public Defense: The New Gay Marriage

The public defense world in Georgia is cracking, crumbling and falling apart. Some may say it's already fallen. It started with the legislature cutting our budget in half mid-year. It continued with bad decisions at the state-wide management level. The office that handles conflict cases for Metro Atlanta (Fulton and Dekalb counties) was shut down with two weeks notice for the employees. Their 1,800 client will be unceremoniously dumped by management onto the plates of various PDs in the area. PDs that already represent the co-defendants in most of those cases. There is a lawsuit to keep it open, filed by members of the criminal defense community who care about the constitution.

There are op-ed pieces by state reps who say that spending less than $1000 to defend a person charged with a felony is A-OK with them. If you are poor and charged with a crime in America, you'd better hope you are anywhere other than Georgia. The op-ed pieces remind me of the Gay Marriage issue from the last election. It's uncanny really. I don't know which is worse: The politicians with dirty motives or the easily swayed, ignorant public who can't recognize bullshit rhetoric that's being flung into their eyes.

How is public defense "the new gay marriage?"

States in the US are still separate entities, no matter how strong the federal government becomes. States are still able to recognize their own laws and policies and determine which laws and policies from other states they will recognize as well. For example: A concealed weapon permit is valid in the state that issued the permit, and some other states will recognize your right to carry a weapon with that other state's permit. BUT, some states do not recognize that right, and if you're carrying you can get arrested despite your permit. If another state's law is against the public policy of your state, your state is not required to recognize that state's law. So, if your state does not recognize same-sex marriage, there's no requirement that you recognize a same-sex marriage from another state. A same-sex couple can't get married in New York and come to Georgia and expect the same rights. They can't get medical benefits, they don't have automatic inheritance rights, they can't come here and get divorces either.

Despite this established policy, in the last election same-sex marriage was a big issue in Georgia. Lots of politicians "came out" (ha ha, I'm clever) in support of a constitutional amendment against same-sex unions. Was there a chance that Georgia would soon change it's laws? Was Georgia the next in line after Vermont and Massachusetts to make it into the 21st fucking century? No. Not even close. There was no way this should have been an issue. Despite the complete uselessness of a constitutional amendment, state reps jumped at the opportunity to get support on this highly emotional issue. They had found a way to motivate conservatives to get out and vote.

Today, Brian Nichols has a public defender, or three. He is accused of killing a judge, a deputy, a Federal Agent in 2005. The State is trying to execute him. His defense bill has been called into question and has been reported at, ballpark: $1.5 million. They have several prosecutors working on this case full time. Several of the prosecutors make, ballpark: $150,000 in salary. There are also State investigators, paralegals, etc. The state plans to call almost 500 witnesses. There is a lot of news coverage here about the case and mostly about his defense bills. The local coverage has lasted long after the national media stopped covering highlights (never the local budget battles). At first there was a lot of national news. Brian Nichols was all over CNN and the like, the manhunt was especially good for generating ad revenue. His girlfriend and meth partner was on Oprah making money selling her story. Everyone here knows Brian Nichols. Everyone knows his lawyers have been paid by the state, although nobody talks about the cost of the prosecution, only the defense.

For a lot of people it is a "hot topic" and an emotional issue to see Brian Nichols being represented by public defenders. Some people are mad that their tax dollars are being spent to give him a defense. Now is the perfect time to make public defense the target of popular hatred. State reps have seized this idea and succeeded in making headlines by cutting the state-wide budget in half. This got them in the news. This got the debate started. This will get people out to vote.

I think the State has done its best to stop citizens from receiving effective representation and to stop them from having constitutional rights. We'll see something on the ballot that will give people the idea that they're helping to fight "the war on crime." It may be as simple as a budget allocation issue, or something as big as the disolution of the state-wide public defender system. If that happens, it won't just be people accused of crimes that each face a life crisis, it'll be a whole lot of their lawyers too.

Our Clients

Our clients often had mental health issues to deal with. Some of them are more severe, some are mild. Some are obvious, and others can hide their various issues well. This past month, a video appeared on youtube showing a young woman on a MARTA train. Supposedly she is now our client and locked up in jail (although in my opinion, our client looks nothing like the girl in the video). I have no idea how the police think they have the right person since she was not arrested at the scene.

Even if this isn't our client, it is a good example of what the court system deals with on a daily basis. If this young woman has mental health problems, she might get some treatment for whatever disorder she may have. If it is not "serious" enough of a disorder, she'll have to proceed through a confusing and frustrating court system designed to go as fast as possible so the judges and prosecutors can get to golf on time.

The one exception would be if she had been assigned to my courtroom. My judge is actually very fair and understands that there are various degrees of crazy and there are people that could use some help. For that, I've come to appreciate my judge more and more, especially when I hear about the other judges in the courthouse.

More Appointments to Miss

It's amazing how many people fail to show up for meetings with their lawyers. I am more stressed about their cases than they are. I have three appointments scheduled for todday and one tomorrow. Two of these were previously missed appointments that I rescheduled.

Some people do show up for trial never having met me, and then expect to have a trial. Scary thought. If you were charged with a crime and faced jail time, wouldn't you move in with your lawyer and look over his/her shoulder to make sure he/she was doing everything possible to win your case? I do have one client who keeps in touch quite a bit. He lives across the street from my office, so he pops in every once and a while to chat about his case. I can tell he actually cares, and is stressed about his charge. Maybe he's more innocent than the others? Or more guilty? Who knows, I'm not the jury.

Broken Appointments

I had two office appointments scheduled for today, neither of which showed up. Although, it's early... only 1:55. My 1:00 may materialize.

I was at the doctor's office this morning... I may not need surgery on my knee! It's in a soft brace now, MRI to follow later this week.

Injury keeping me out?

I have court in 7 hours and I am suffering from a soccer related injury. I think I tore my ACL or MCL in my knee. It's bending the wrong way, which is never a good sign.

Tomorrow is jail pleas, but luckily it is a short calendar and then I'm off to the doctor... wish me luck!

There is no state of Georgia

It was Tuesday, so we had arraignments on the calendar. One defendant brought a friend with him from a "fringe" religious group. The friend was dressed in a small black turban, gold crown, black leather arm bracers (covering his forearms), a big dark green robe, and a thick black leather belt. I later overheard him say, "I dress as the apostles dressed." He looked like a cross between a zealous Dungeons & Dragons player/character and the paranoid schizophrenic guy that talks to everyone on the corner downtown.... maybe he was both?

So, he got a talking to several times in the courtroom when he tried to come up to the attorney desks. People from the Solicitor's office tried to tell him that only attorneys were allowed up there. His response was "I am an attorney." To which they asked, "are you licensed by the state of Georgia to practice law?" Of course not silly, he doesn't believe in the state of Georgia, nor its laws, nor its jurisdiction, there is only God's jurisdiction. He kept interrupting the Solicitors while they were trying to talk to the guy that brought him as his 'brother in Christ."

The guy who was actually charged in this court had a DUI and brought this character as a 'counselor' or advisor or something. The guy who actually had the case was not as hard-core as the apostle character. He did have a long black trench coat on, which was a little odd... but no crown. Other than that, he seemed rather ordinary looking. He was a young, 20 something African-American guy with short hair and a silver hoop earring. The 'counselor' and the DUI defendant tried pretty hard to tell the solicitor that there was no laws except God's law and that the state of Georgia has no jurisdiction over them. The apostle character was amazingly persistent, especially for someone that's not themselves charged in the case. There was mention of some time in 1983 when a messiah type person came and liberated everyone from this world or something, but I wasn't paying close enough attention to their conversation. I wish I had been listening up for that part.

When the defendant went in front of the judge there were all of a sudden a lot of large deputies in the courtroom. It was interesting to see them materialize out of nowhere. When the counselor/apostle dude came up to join his buddy at the podium the judge asked who he was and he provided the ID of "Brother in Christ" to the defendant. Well, OK, defendants can only come to the podium with their attorneys, are you licensed to practice law by the state of Georgia? "There is no state of Georgia or laws of Georgia, there is only God's law." OK, you can go ahead and stand with your buddy there. Now, defendant dude, you are charged with DUI, are you going to hire a lawyer? "Honestly judge, I am just feeling oblivion to these charges." Really? You don't look oblivion. "I mean oblivious, or whatever, I don't know what to make of this case." At this point the apostle/brother jumped back into the conversation, saying, "there is only God's jurisdiction, and there is no jurisdiction over us here." The judge corrected him saying, "you're in my jurisdiction now, and you can leave the courtroom." I was sad to see the apostle go. I just knew there was so much more crazy stuff he was going to say. I wanted him to have a chance to educate us on the rest of the issues that he had with the state of Georgia (or lack thereof).

I'm really looking forward to our next court date together. I want to see if they submit to Georgia's jurisdiction and hire a lawyer, or if they argue that the court does not have power over them. That raises a whole lot of questions for his defense. If Georgia has no jurisdiction, and there is only God's law, does God allow DUI? Maybe God's legislature hasn't passed any DUI laws? Maybe alcohol does not affect people who are not "in Georgia" although they appear to be "in Georgia" to the rest of us. Very interesting jurisdictional issues for the judge to figure out.

Filing Instructions

I looked at an insert in a legal publication that I received at the end of 2007. The book is a 2008 edition of a criminal trial practice manual. Lots of times legal books are updated with pocket parts which you insert in the back of the book, or supplements which you keep close at hand when referencing the book. This was a complete replacement, and the insert has filing instructions which are a bit too complicated for me to follow:

"Enclosed is the 2007-2008 Edition... This volume is up to date and replaced all previous editions of this book.

FILING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) DISCARD or RECYCLE the 2007 Edition
2) PLACE the new 2007-2008 Edition on your desk or shelf."

Given that it will only be lawyers who look into books like this, did they really think someone with that much education needs to be told how to place the book on their desk? Maybe it's not despite our education, it's because of it? Sometimes, more eduction = less sense.

"I have nuclear powers"

A defendant came into court for Jail Pleas on Friday. He was clearly crazy in a "holy crap that's some crazy shit he's saying, no, for real, crazy like he actually believes the voices in his head." Not in a, "wow that lawyer asked for a formal arraignment he's crazy" kind of way.

I didn't talk to this guy, but I saw him at the podium talking to the judge and taking a plea. When she asked him how old he was, he answered by asking her to follow the recommendation of the prosecutor. Not so crazy yet. Then when the judge finished getting him through the plea, the real fireworks started. He had several exchanges with the judge and all of them were pleasant enough, there was no yelling, ranting, raving, etc.

He asked if she could do anything about the software in his head. (she said no). He then told her about how nervous he felt in the courtroom because there were a lot of people in there and he felt like they could explode any minute. (She told him he was safe) Then he told her that he had power. Real power. Nuclear power. In fact, he warned everyone that he might go off at any time and they should be careful because he didn't know what might happen. Again, the judge told him that everything would be fine.

Then one of the deputies told him that he was going to have to get back on the spaceship, to which he replied, "OK, let's get going."

Harassing Phone Calls

I had a trial yesterday for Harassing Phone Calls... yes, a jury trial.

I got a directed verdict on Simple Assault and the second count of harassing phone calls. The jury convicted of one count and he was time served.

I love that we're spending tax dollars on harassing phone call jury trials.

Pick your battles I guess, let the violent crimes go, but balls to the walls for phone the phone call cases.

The prosecutor also got into some questionably unprofessional tactics as well, but that's for a day with more time to post.

Formal Arraignment

A couple of weeks ago we had an arraignment calendar in State Court. This is the date that everyone got when they were released from jail, they are required to show up and be "arraigned," which is an old-fashioned sort of idea. Why old fashioned? It used to mean that the prosecutor would read all the charges aloud and ask what plea the defendant would enter (not-guilty). The defendant would answer and then get another court date scheduled. Nobody does formal arraignments anymore, they just get a new court date and waive formal arraignment. But, it is the first opportunity to negotiate a plea, talk about the case, etc.

On arraignment dates all the defendants are required to be present or face an arrest warrant, and they are supposed to bring their lawyers along too. They have the opportunity to see what charges they are facing, learn if there is a plea offer, and even apply for a public defender. Some defendants who have lawyers with scheduling conflicts on arraignment dates waive arraignment and just get a new court date. This happened last time we had court, but one lawyer was told that he had to show up anyway for his client to sign notice of the next court date. So his theory was, "if I have to waste my time and my clients time, I'm going to waste the court's time." So, he requested a formal arraignment. It really took the judge by surprise, in fact I think she didn't know what a formal arraignment was. Nonetheless, the prosecutor went through the laundry list of charges relating to this simple DUI, and the client responded with, "not-guilty" to every charge. When that was over, the judge looked at the lawyer (now realizing that he was merely being a dick) and said, "are you satisfied now?" If she had known what was going on, I suspect she would have handled his case last, and made him sit through the entire day's calendar. That was actually the prosecutor's suggestion after the formal arraignment. He was pretty snooty about this lawyer coming in and wasting his time, and thought he was being personally insulted or attacked by this frivolous request.

I thought it was pretty funny. All the egos that are at play in the courtroom were on display. Everyone took all of it so personally. None of them caring how their actions effected everyone else, or how anyone else was inconvenienced. I'm there all day, every day anyway, so I just sat back and chuckled that any of the players thought that they had made any type of point.

Latest trial calendar

Well, preparing for trials that I thought wouldn't go forward just got more exciting. Looks like there's one on the front burner now. Although, hopefully he'll come to his senses and take the probation instead of risking the jail time on bad facts.

On the other hand, I do have that bench trial next week that is sure to go. That'll be extra fun! I am feeling confident about our chances on that one.

State Court

Life is relatively uneventful in state court. I have a trial week next week, but I only have 4 trials listed, and only one will go forward. That one is a harassing phone call case where defendant has been in jail for over a year on this case and another felony chage.

The brief moments of excitement and stress are tempered by these long stretches of the mundane.... Preparing for trials that won't go forward is definitely boring boring boring. I geuss it's better than having 40 cases on the trial calendar.

That trial

We had a sentencing hearing today from my trial earlier this week. He got 36 months with 12 to serve, credit for the 63 days he's already been in jail. If he finishes a drug program before his time elapses, he can get released if he's been good.


The trial itself was a great learning experience. It was the first time I have taken a case "all the way" on my own. I've been a right-hand attorney, but never 'the man' on a case. I picked the jury, opened, closed, and everything in between. I got a directed verdict on two counts of family violence battery and I got the jury to acquit on two more counts. Unfortunately, they found him guilty of the six remaining counts. The good news was that he was no longer facing 10 counts, or 120 months in jail, and only 6 counts, or 60 months. Some counts merged, so he ended up with a 36 month sentence. Overall, not a bad experience. He was happy with my representation, so I feel like I served him well.

I am a Trial Attorney

I just finished my first trial.


My client started the day facing two accusations and ten charges. After directed verdict I got them down to eight charges. After deliberating for an hour and 15 minutes they returned a verdict..... acquittal on two charges and convictions on the remaining six.


I'm counting it as a win, but it still stings. I'll have to recap more later. I just got home and need a nap.

I'm not really new here.... but I kinda am

I've been mixing work with pleasure for the past few years. Being a public defender, I decided to cut out the pleasure and continue with the work.

Here's my PD Blog with details of my life left out. This will be my work life, my work social life, my trials, my .... me, as a PD.

I came from the Big City to the just-as-big-but-less-city neighboring county. I had to start over somewhat, but I am now in a trial courtroom on my own. I've got a state court courtroom to cover, which means (in decreasing severity): DUI cases, Domestic violence, minor possesion, traffic, trespass etc.

I work with another PD blogger: http://indigentdefense.blogspot.com/ there's his link on the right. He's in felonies, I've got Misdemeanors covered.

Post me a comment, I'd like to know if anyone notices me.

My First Trial

I thought I was going to have my first solo trial last week. I was prepared... perhaps over prepped. I had a client charged with sexual battery by a scorned woman. It would have been a bad case if you had believed her, but she was a little crazy (or a lot) and we had some good impeachment evidence. I was at work all weekend, and Monday was a holiday, so that was a full day at the office by myself.



Tuesday morning rolled around and I was sitting at the defense table with all my stuff spread out (I was first to the courtroom to settle into my war room cockpit). The prosecutor rolled in and said, "You ready to throw in the towel yet?" I responded in kind, and we had a good fake laugh together. He circled his table for a total of four or five seconds and said, "How about 24 hours on Disorderly Conduct?" I guess all my prep work paid off or something. Maybe I looked pretty confident and he didn't want to put up his witness. Maybe he got as newvious as I felt, but cracked first. I didn't know at the time. He told the judge that he didn't think the witness would hold up under cross exam and she said, "You mean the scathing cross that 'PD-Jay' was going to effect on her?" I'll take that little joke of a compliment thank you.



So, this coming Monday I have yet another sexual battery to try! This time the victim is missing though, so I doubt that it will go anywhere.