Monday, March 31, 2008

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.

Friday, March 28, 2008

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.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

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.