2003-01-13 - 9:59 p.m.
EVERYTHING�S GOING MY WAY
Some days make a body feel powerful. These days are rare and golden and pass all too soon. Still, having one now and again can keep me going for weeks. Tomorrow, everything I touch may turn to dust but today everything I touched came out better than I could have hoped.
For starters, I won two cases. I rarely win any cases because criminal appeals are notoriously unsuccessful. Nevermind the popular belief that there is a technicality waiting to free every criminal in prison. My office estimates that a very good attorney who handles appeals and postconviction work is doing very well to win 25% of the cases. Many very good attorneys do even less well than that, particularly if, like me, they primarily handle cases involving serious crimes such as homicides and sexual assaults.
One of the cases was a total surprise. I knew that the court, the prosecutor, and defense counsel misunderstood the client�s record and thought it was slightly worse than it really was. We all agreed that the record that the court had at sentencing was wrong. The question was whether the court actually relied on that record or just mentioned it multiple times. In many such motions in serious cases, I�ve had the courts rule that the misinformation was not relied upon despite being mentioned every other sentence. This court was honest and my client will be resentenced now that the correct information is known.
The other case was not a surprise but I was particularly delighted when the prosecutor told me that if he had had the information I supplied, he would have asked for a lesser sentence in the first place and he had no objection to the sentence reduction the court is granting. This case again involved information at sentencing but this case involved information that was never supplied. My client, at risk to himself and just because it annoyed him, had alerted the authorities to an identity theft ring after the perpetrator of that crime tried to get my client�s social security number in the jail. He never tried to cut a deal in exchange for the information he gave. A sharper defense attorney than he had would have presented the situation to the court anyway. Because he indicated that it was no big deal (or for some other unknown reason such as sloppiness), the defense counsel never mentioned it.
I also managed to get out from under a case that was taking huge amounts of time and involved a challenging client. I did it by finding an issue. I�m not sure it�s a really good issue for appeal but it is an issue that gives me a conflict of interest. That conflict of interest knocks me off the case. The headache is now someone else�s.
And I have a case that reminds me why I became a public defender. Someone charged my mentally retarded and mentally ill client who lives in a group home with disorderly conduct while armed because he lunged at a worker with a butter knife a year ago. The judge dismissed the case and the state let it sit for a year and then decided that it could not just let a case with a weapon go so the state is appealing the dismissal. The client, who routinely tells me he is good and asks me to bring him a present because he is good, barely remembers the incident although he remembers being in the jail and does not want to go back. Someone has to stand up and say that this whole situation is insane.
So, today, there�s a bright golden haze on the meadow....and everything�s going my way.
LAST YEAR: Extracurricular Activities
LAST FIVE ENTRIES:
In the Dumps
Blame It On...
The Answer to Clarence
Hypothermia
The Little Something
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
