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.