Some things just don’t change
From public defender blogger imapd:
Sphere: Related ContentA prosecutor came in my office the other day and expressed shock at the fact that I was pulling cases from Lexis and reading caselaw. “What are you doing that for?,” demanded the grumpy old prosecutor, “No one here follows the law anyway!” He snickered knowingly and went on embarrassing himself. “You know, if we followed all the rules, the system would come to a grinding halt!” He stood there in my doorway, as if he was waiting for me to fold up my books and just go home.
“I have a lot to learn,” I replied vaguely, wishing he would get the eff out of my office.
With a patronizing snort, he squinted his eyes at me and proceeded to insult me. “You know…the two people in the room who never know the rules are judges and defense attorneys.” He paused and stared me down. I waited for him to say that he was just joking, or to admit that his effing prosecutors were the ones who didn’t know ass from subsection. He didn’t back down, of course, so I sat there, staring back into his wrinkled, belligerent face until he wandered out of my office looking for someone else to browbeat with the myths that make his career worthwhile…Only a prosecutor could trespass into the new PD’s office to intimidate her with his shocking commitment to ignoring the law at the expense of our “guilty-as-soon-as-they-walk-in-the-door” clients.
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My boyfriend was defended by a PD and was successful in getting a hit & run (property damage only) & reckless driving dismissed. The story is a little twisted, though……it was actually his PD’s shortcomings, plus the defendant’s own tenacity, that got him off the hook.
The defendant knew a hearing was approaching (probably, arraignment?? I’m not sure) and made efforts to speak to the PD assigned for him. They played one or two rounds of phone tag and then there was no further contact, until 2 days before the hearing. The PD then emailed him saying that he needed to give her at least two weeks’ notice if he wanted to speak with her. A Catch-22 that left him apparently without any way to prepare a defense.
I assisted him in writing a short paragraph to the judge, explaining how the PD had made herself unavailable. The defendant spent all day in court, watching everyone else go ahead of him, most pleading guilty. Somehow his case kept getting pushed behind. At last, there was no one left but the judge, prosecutor, PD and 1 last defendant – my boyfriend. It was the end of a long day for everyone and the prosecutor was visibly drooping over her table. The defendant got a chance to explain to the judge how he had had no chance to prepare a defense and had had no assistance of counsel. The judge seemed sympathetic and questioned the PD, who truthfully affirmed her own failure to communicate.
The defendant demanded a jury trial. A bit of back and forth, the prosecutor offered a lesser charge and – I’m not quite sure how – the PD spoke up strongly, and all charges were dropped just do everyone could get out of there.
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