My first taste of "justice" on the defense side

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:39 pm

Well, it finally happened to me as a defense attorney.

I was representing a guy who was charged with Robbery First Degree (2 counts), a weapons offense (2 counts) and several other charges. If convicted, he was looking at a minimum of 25 years in prison (mandatory) with a potential life sentence. He's been in prison since March 30th, 2006.

He insisted he didn't do it.

I believed him. (I'll point out here that as a former prosecutor, it's hard to convince me, too.)

The State's evidence was weak as hell.

We rejected their first (felony) plea offer.

Well, today they offered a plea to two counts of Theft - misdemeanor with a probation recommendation.

I tell him....."I know you say you didn't do this but you have a choice: (a) say that you "did it" and get out of prison today and placed on probation, not risking life in prison; or (b) reject the plea, maintain your innocence, go to trial and RISK being found guilty and looking at a lot of prison time.

I did, in fact, tell him that I thought we had an excellent chance of winning trial; however......

Today he decided to plea guilty to two offenses that he claimed to be innocent of, simply to avoid prison and get out of prison today.

As I said before, this happens all the time.

This is the first time it happened to one of my clients.

Probably won't be the last.

In the end, it was his decision to make......not mine.

yupchagee · Post by **yupchagee** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:45 pm

So you're a criminal lawyer. The ultimate redundancy.

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:42 pm

yupchagee wrote:So you're a criminal lawyer. The ultimate redundancy.

You joined in April and you're just figuring this out, huh?

I'm sure the next time (if ever) you get in trouble and may need a criminal attorney, he/she will appreciate your sarcasm.

NikiH · Post by **NikiH** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:11 pm

Yes, let's all curtail our sarcasim in case we ever need to impress a lawyer that may or may not represent us! :roll:

Oops guess I'm off to a bad start.

yupchagee · Post by **yupchagee** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:42 pm

Justice Hog wrote:
yupchagee wrote:So you're a criminal lawyer. The ultimate redundancy.

You joined in April and you're just figuring this out, huh?

I'm sure the next time (if ever) you get in trouble and may need a criminal attorney, he/she will appreciate your sarcasm.

I never paid attention to what you did for a living. Most of my lawyer friends laugh at lawyer jokes.

tcwest10 · Post by **tcwest10** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:32 am

I'm sure Cochran also had his days. We'll have to wait until a more willing client comes along to see if your prosecutory Jedi skills carry over to the dark side of the force. : )

Punu · Post by **Punu** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:45 am

I would have plead guilty too.... risking life in jail... no thanx

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:15 am

yupchagee wrote:I never paid attention to what you did for a living. Most of my lawyer friends laugh at lawyer jokes.

Actually I do, too. If you noticed, I've been known to post a few here and there. Just bustin' your chops, my friend.

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:20 am

Punu wrote:I would have plead guilty too.... risking life in jail... no thanx

The funny thing, when I was down in "lock up" talking to him, I ask him, "Have you ever seen Pulp Fiction?" He said, "Yeah"

I tell him, "Remember that scene when Marcellus Wallace was talking to Butch (Bruce Willis' character) about taking a dive in the ring? Well, the same is going to apply to you.

When you stand before the judge today and he asks you whether you committed the offense, a big part of you is going to want to say 'no, I didn't.' Well.....that's pride _________ with you. ______ pride. If you want to avoid life in prison, you're just gonna have to do what you have to do."

We had a little laugh, then got on to business.

For what it's worth, I asked the State to allow us to plea "no contest", but they wouldn't allow that. I guess the prosecutor wanted to hear the guy say he was "guilty".

Countertrey · Post by **Countertrey** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:22 am

JH... you misnamed your thread...

"My first taste of "justice" on the dark side"

And, is it really "justice" when an innocent man accepts a conviction because he just can't afford to take the risk?

Is it really "justice" when a guilty man is offered a slap on a plea because it's easier for the prosecutor?

I know.... I have no sense of irony. :wink:

Irn-Bru · Post by **Irn-Bru** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:29 am

I feel for your client, JH. Sadly, I probably would have done the same thing, no matter how strongly I believed that I was innocent. A crappy situation, to be sure, but even with a great lawyer on my side I don't know how much faith I'd have in justice being done.

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:48 am

Countertrey wrote:Is it really "justice" when a guilty man is offered a slap on a plea because it's easier for the prosecutor?

That's exactly why I put the word JUSTICE in quotation marks in the title.

Is it justice that an innocent man spent 104 days in prison for a crime he didn't commit?

Could be worse. I'm sure we've all heard about the cases where a convicted rapist serves 40+ years in prison and then, after 40+ years, new DNA evidence proves he didn't do it!

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:50 am

Irn-Bru wrote:I feel for your client, JH. Sadly, I probably would have done the same thing, no matter how strongly I believed that I was innocent. A crappy situation, to be sure, but even with a great lawyer on my side I don't know how much faith I'd have in justice being done.

That's what I told the guy, "If we go to trial, I'm 90% sure I'll win for you; however, do you really want to put the fate of your life in the hands of 12 people you don't know? As a prosecutor, I've won trials I felt I should have lost....and I've lost trials I felt I should have won. No matter what, it's always a gamble no matter how strong your case is. The question is, do you want to take that gamble?"

Countertrey · Post by **Countertrey** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:25 pm

As a prosecutor, I've won trials I felt I should have lost

JH, I'm really not trying to place you on the defensive, but this stuff just drives me nuts. So, since you raised it...

Is that because you felt you had no case and needed to salvage something, or because you believed in the case, but just didn't think you had the evidence?

If the latter, well, I suppose that's just how it goes sometimes. I am disturbed if it's the former (I really hope it's not). I mean, if you felt you should have lost, then why were you trying it??? I know that there are plenty of times that the prosecutor continues the case against an individual that probably didn't commit a crime just because he or she wants to win. I suspect that was the case with your client, and was possibly the case with S Taylor as well... and THAT is just BS.

I just can't understand the legal profession. To knowingly turn off your values, your beliefs, your SOUL, just to get an aquital on a clearly guilty individual (even knowing that he or she will just go out and do it again, such as a sexual predator), or to get a conviction on a probably innocent one... turns my stomach.

Tactics such as trying the victim, digging for precedent setting loopholes, playing with technicalities... disgusting. Wrong.

I'll just live by the following maxim... "The only good lawyer...

is MY lawyer" (you thought I was going to say "is a DEAD lawyer" didn't you?)
Funny how that works, huh?
Ahhhhhh.... that was cathartic. I'm better now. :wink:

Justice Hog · Post by **Justice Hog** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:04 pm

Countertrey wrote:JH, I'm really not trying to place you on the defensive, but this stuff just drives me nuts. So, since you raised it...

Is that because you felt you had no case and needed to salvage something, or because you believed in the case, but just didn't think you had the evidence?

I was referring mainly to one case. The guy was charged with "Act of Intimidation" because he called the victim up on the phone and threatened him.

My only evidence was the victim getting on the stand and telling the jury that the defendant called him to threaten him.

I had no phone records. I had no other evidence to prove it.

The defendant was a whacko.

Did I think he did it? Absolutely!

Did I think I had enough to prove he did it? Well, let's just say I would have liked to have more evidence.

I still took it to trial because the victim really wanted his day in Court. Sometimes, as a prosecuting attorney, you will take bad cases to trial because of the victim. I did that in two cases. One I lost. One I won.

Unlike the Sean Taylor case, neither one of my victims had "records" or were criminals themselves.

Fortunately, by some miracle, I won.

Countertrey · Post by **Countertrey** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:41 pm

Let me rephrase.

The only good lawyer is my lawyer... or one who is a member of THN.

My faith is restored! :lol: