A day at the public defender's office

This week I sent a man to prison.
This man was my own client.
My client was a young man who stole some things from the place that he worked. Unfortunately for him this place was a well know store. The store has excellent quality video surveillance footage of the client and another man stealing almost $900 worth of items. This means that it is a felony. The fact that it was a felony and the fact that there was such excellent footage of him stealing the items meant that it was in the client’s best interest to negotiate a plea deal because if he went to trial the DA would ask for a much stiffer sentence and the judge would likely agree.
I understand that a defendant should not be punished because he exercised his right to a jury trial. But unfortunately this is not usually the case. The DA’s office will offer pleas to most (if not all) defendants to save the court the time and expense of holding a trial of someone who admits that they did the crime. The DA’s office will offer a lowered sentence for the person in exchange for admitting the wrongdoing and saving the taxpayers the time and expense of trial. If the defendant does not accept the plea, the lowered punishment is off the table and the DA’s office will ask for a much higher punishment. In essence, this punishes the defendant for seeking a jury trial if he is found guilty. But this is the norm across the country and I can certainly see the argument for this being the preferred way to handle plea deals.
The DA offered to give my client 6 years with 2 years to serve. I negotiated back and forth for most of the day between my client and the DA’s office. Eventually we reached an agreement for 5 years with 1 year to serve, restitution of the value of the stolen items, and my client has to stay out of the store. Banishment from this particular store is not a punishment that most judges in a small town take lightly. The judge asked the prosecutor where she expected the defendant to shop and she replied “Target”. The judge turned to the defendant and said “I certainly hope for your sake that we have a Target in this town by the time you get out of jail.”
At 4:25 in the afternoon I stood with the client as he plead guilty and the judge sentenced him to “5 to do 1”. Then I watched the client walk away with the sheriff on his way to prison.

First Appearance

I stood with my first client in court today.
It was a probable cause hearing. I was nervous and not quite sure what I should ask. I just tried hard to look competent and hope that I achieved at least that much. The judge called my clients name and the sheriff went to retrieve him. At that time, for the first time in my life, I moved from the gallery, through the bar, and into the hot seat. The sheriff ushered in a young man of no more than 17. He shuffled in and sat down next to me in his jail issued stripes, flip flops and cuffs. We had chose to waive the formal reading of the warrant. The judge swore in the police officer and the DA began asking questions. Then she deferred to me. I asked the arresting officer questions and then indicated to the judge that we had no further questions. The judge asked for anything else. The DA said “No.” and I asked for a reasonable bond. The judge found probable cause existed and denied bond. It was by no means a significant event for any one in that court room but me and my client. Being in leg and wrist cuffs, he was far less concerned with how he looked. I know that he wasn’t that concerned with getting a bond set either. His mother and father were in jail also. There wasn’t anyone to bond him out of jail even if they could have afforded to do so. The sheriff took my client away and I walked back across the barrier that had once separated me from the court.

summer classes / internship

My last 2 classes are an internship and an advanced legal research class. The internship class does have a classroom participation component (sort of) that is fulfilled by answering questions and keeping a journal online. I will post some of those journal entries here because it fits both needs. The other (advanced legal research) class is one that I wish that I could have taken prior to writing my rigorous writing assignment. But oh well...

My goals for the internship are mainly to complete the required number of hours in order to get course credit and to observe as much trial tactics and skills as possible. As a secondary goal (which grows into more of a leading goal as the days pass) I need to network and market myself into a job. I want to pick up as much information as possible about the effective practice of law while I am working at the public defender office however. I want to learn how the criminal moves through the system from his arrest until his ultimate freedom if he is eventually released entirely from the “system”. I hope to see how criminal defendants think in regards to their lawyer, and how much of the information that they tell is actually truthful and forthcoming. I want the opportunity, however small it is, to stand before the court as the representative of another person who needs that representation. I want to stand beside him with the compassion that “this is my client and I owe a duty to him to speak for him in his best interest” while detaching myself enough to actually do what is in his best interest. Most of all, I would like the opportunity to taste the success of whatever victory I can achieve for my client, however fleeting that victory may be.

Mexican Bike race

When I came into work this morning one of the lawyers showed me this.
Over the weekend a bike race in Mexico was interupted by a drunk driver (killing one and injuring 10). What a time to have your camera!