Three trials, three weeks

I am currently waiting on a jury in a 2 count burglary case. This marks the end of the third case I've tried in the three weeks of this trial calendar. First was that Armed Robbery I mentioned, then an Aggravated Assault (self-defense claim), finally this Burglary is the only one left to come in.

Jury selection had some humerour moments. One older juror was asleep during general questioning. I actually called him out on it too. "Juror number nine? ... Juror number nine? You need to try to stay awake sir, these are some important questions." The Judge told us later that he had never seen an attorney call out a juror for sleeping. We all had a good laugh.

Public Defenders with the C word

Tonight I found out that one of my closest friends at the office has cancer. Serious cancer. I hope that I am supportive enough, and helpful enough, and can do enough to .... I don't know what, I just hope I can help.

Batting .500

In a whirlwind of activity over the last two weeks I managed to have my first and second trials in Superior Court. First up was an armed robbery with pretty clear surveilance video. My client was arrested a week after this robbery, but there was hardly any evidence against him. I got an acquittal on the only charge!! Next was an aggravated assault with a self-defense claim. The jury didn't buy the self-defense argument, so she got convicted. I think they didn't like seeing the cut with the razor on the girl's back. Sentencing is tomorrow...

UPDATE: She got 15 years to serve 10 years. For a single cut with a razor blade. It didn't help that she ran down the stairs to fight this girl... she was 50 at the time and the victim was 17... and her children and grandchild were present to see her do it.... overall kinda ugly.

It's give your client your belt day!

My coworker was just ordered to give his belt to his client. The judge said, "I don't think your pants will fall down, but his are falling off."

In a cruel twist, his client was thrown out of the courtroom and, subsequently, the courthouse and the belt ended up in the trash can.

Ah, courthouse drama of the pettiest kind!!

I was having a good day when....

Today started of pretty well. A private attorney came to court and relieved me of a case that is on the current trial calendar. Several cases were called in for trial that were not mine, freeing up my weekend. Then a series of events put me in a bad mood.

First, my friend here at the office found out that her very recently ex-fiance got married to a dude. Well, not a dude, a woman who was very recently a dude.

Then I found out that my client who had been out on bond was just arrested for this:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/autopsy-due-friday-on-140351.html

Then a doctor that I have been trying to subpoena in a very serious case has diappeared and I haven't been able to track him down.

TGIF

Hurry hurry, you'll have to wait!!!!

I had an armed robbery trial ready to go this morning. He took a plea and got 15 to serve instead of risking life without parole as a recidivist.

I spent this last available weekend working on this case... all for naught, but I guess that's what we do. I was ready. My client was ready until the victim walked into court and we knew he was going to testify.

Jail or Public Defender?

I got an interesting question from someone over the phone: "what is the difference between the public defender's office and the jail?"

It was a very sincere question too.

Crying Clients

I just had a client in my office who keeps losing his job because of his open case. I feel pretty sorry for the guy. He was charged with "Theft by Deception" back in 2005 and his case is still open... four years later. He is trying to do the right thing by working to pay back the $5,000 he owes on the theft case. If he pays it back, the prosecutor was nice enough to agree to dismiss the case.

He gets fired for having an open case which will be dismissed if he can stay employed long enough to close that same case.... ouch.

I have no record!

I was talking to a client who wanted to know why he got a $50,000 bond on his armed robbery case. He was surprised it was so high despite the fact that he is accused of holding a gun to someone's head. He said, "but I have no criminal record." To which I was forced to reply, "what about that manslaughter conviction?" Well, it is so old my client doesn't think that it should count. That record will follow you around folks.

My answer to "the question"

A friend of mine recently asked me "the question." The one we get at dinner parties.


"I would never be able to deal with the morals and actually draw up a decent case for the accused, how do you manage?"


I may have put him to sleep with my answer. It was something like this, only shorter:

It really boils down to a few things. I truly believe in the Constitution and what it stands for. I was a history/religion major in college and that really is the foundation for my belief. Sort of like a firefighter or a soldier who really believes in what he/she is doing, and has the desire to help people in the way that they know best. Granted, I am helping a different subset of people: those that have been accused of a crime. Not the most popular people. BUT, the Constitution promises that someone accused of a crime will not go unrepresented, and no matter how bad the crime or the criminal, he/she is entitled to a lawyer.


I have a favorite story about John Adams. Most people don't remember that he was a regular old practicing lawyer before he was a "founding father" and US President. John Adams worked in Boston during the Boston Massacre. That was when British soldiers fired into a crowd of civilians, killing some, and inflaming the colonies. Those soldiers were arrested and charged, and someone stepped up and defended the men who were seen as evil, the Devil's own spawn. John Adams was the one who stepped up. He represented them because he believed that everyone was entitled to a defense. It was not a popular move, the people of Boston hated the British, but he followed his beliefs.


Enough history.

I always like to try to have people put themselves into the shoes of someone who was falsely accused, or maybe your brother or sister was accused of something bad. You would want someone on your side who stands up for you, holds your hand, really tries to help. Sounds cheesy, I know, BUT: There have been a lot of cases overturned on DNA evidence since they started testing old evidence. I can't help but think of these cases pretty often in my line of work. Victims and eye-witnesses who swore up and down, "that's the man that raped me." Yet, the DNA turned out to be from a serial rapist in the area, not from the man with no criminal history who was in the wrong place at the wrong time (who then got wrongly convicted and spend 20 years behind bars). Nobody believed that guy when he was getting ready for trial. Only his lawyer was there to help him, but even that wasn't enough.

The clients that I get really have the deck stacked against them most of the time. People who were not raised in a regular family, were poverty stricken their whole lives, many who faced hardships based on race (yes, it still exists here in the US). Most of my clients are not bad people, they just made a really stupid decision, or they are not equipped with the emotional skills or social maturity to deal with issues that end up getting them into trouble. 'Trouble' may be joining a gang to seek that approval and acceptance from someone that they never got from their disaster of a family. 'Trouble' could be stealing food or alcohol because that's how they were raised. Or, 'Trouble' may be something really serious like a street fight (that most of us would never be involved with), suddenly someone pulls a gun and things escalate and then there's a body.

An interesting part of my job is dealing with law enforcement officers. A common stereotype of public defenders is that we hate all cops. I tend to get along with most cops really well, despite the fact that I have to cross examine them all the time. I don't feel like we have to have animosity between us like some lawyers do. Some lawyers hate all cops, like some cops hate all lawyers. My philosophy is that we're all doing our job the way we know how. Of course, there are good and bad in every profession. Last week I was going after a cop who has a very bad reputation as a violent guy, has been suspended 6 times since 2006 for excessive use of force, inappropriate contact with defendants, beating his wife.... etc. That cop, I hate and so should you. But not simply because he's a cop. He's an abuser with a serious problem, and a criminal himself, and he's in a position of power. Those guys are somewhat rare, but it does happen. He has beaten more than one of our clients, and he’s been suspended by internal affairs.


Another common misconception about public defenders is that we're all foaming at the mouth liberals who want to ban all guns, etc. Without getting into the details of those interesting topics, that's just a misconception. I am a supporter of all of the Constitutional Amendments.

The short answer for private lawyers (non public defenders): "I do it for the money" :)