You Can Trust Me Ma'm, I Work For The State!

Not too long ago, I was in a small South Texas county representing a guy on a DWI.  I showed up at the arraignment docket and much to my surprise, I was the only lawyer present.  There were about 15 to 20 defendants and me.  I assumed the court coordinator was going to ask me to take appointments since there was no one else there to take them.  I was wrong.  The judge takes the bench and after greeting the court-goers, say the following:

"Now you have two options in front of you.  You can try and work things out with the state today.  Or you can ask for a court-appointed lawyer.  If you ask for a court appointed lawyer, you are responsible for the fees for a court-appointed lawyer and you can no longer talk to the state on your own.  Seeing as how there's only one lawyer here today and he can't take every case, those of you asking for a court-appointed lawyer will probably have their cases continued for a month."

Not surprisingly, after such a ringing endorsement from the judge at the notion of getting a lawyer to represent their rights, everyone started taking the option of working things out with the state.  I approached the judge and told him that I would be happy to take as many cases as necessary to make sure everyone that wanted an attorney had an attorney.  The judge said "Thanks, but out here that's really not necessary.  People like to work things out with the state on their own."  

After conferring with the state on my case and getting a copy of the video, I went back into the courtroom and asked the judge to reset the case to give me time to review the state's evidence.  While I was in the court, I saw the other defendants lined up at the bench taking the plea deals they received from the state.  I was floored.

Look, I'm sure the prosecutor in this county is a nice guy.  I'm sure he means well.  However, he represents the state.  He does not represent these defendants, nor is he responsible for looking out for their best interests.  I was talking to an older civil lawyer who practices in that area about what had happened and he said "Well Ol' So and So [the prosecutor] gives those people a hell of a deal on those cases and they end up with as good a deal as they would get with a lawyer."  However, whether they receive a good offer is not the issue.  

Lawyers do more for you than get you a good offer.  A lawyer will evaluate the case to see if the the case is even viable.  For example, there may be a illegal search or a bad stop.  A lawyer will determine whether the alleged incident even meets the elements of the charged offense.  A lawyer will look at the state's evidence to see if it solid enough to hold up at trial.  A lawyer will tell you whether the case is one that needs to be tried to a jury or a judge.  In the event that you decide a plea in is your best interest, a lawyer will advise you of the consequences of that plea and may present you with options you may not have known were available.  A lawyer will advise you whether the state's offer is reasonable or whether you need to go to the judge for punishment.  A defendant without a lawyer doesn't get any of this. The state surely isn't performing such an undertaking for you.

The troubling thing is that many defendants will take anything that keeps them from going to jail, whether it's good offer or not.  I don't know how many times I get people in my office on a Class B Misdemeanor (one offense level above a traffic ticket) and when I ask them what it is they want me to do for them, their response is "Do you think you can keep me from going to jail?"  (a colleague of mine says at this point he responds "Yes, but it is going to be a lot of work and very expensive").  These are people who don't know the system and assume that they are going to jail for anything.  I have no doubt when these people meet with Mr. Prosecutor, and he offers them two years of probation and a $1,500 fine, they jump on it thinking it's a good offer.  Heck it keeps them out of jail, right?

And again, I don't know that this prosecutor is giving out such offers, but I guarantee you that he's not advising these people about the merit of the case against them.  He can't.  The case is the State of Texas versus you, the defendant.  And this man represents the State of Texas.  

C'mon, Can't This Be Handled Within The School?

I recently received a call from a parent who wanted to hire me to handle her son's juvenile case.  The young man (let's call him Dwight Schrute, as I am watching The Office right now) is being charged with criminal trespass.  Evidently, Dwight was suspended from school and the school has a policy requiring the parents of suspended students to meet with the vice-principal on the student's first day back from suspension to discuss the conditions of the student's continued enrollment.  Well, in this case, Dwight's mom (Mrs. Schrute) did not go to school with Dwight to meet the vice-principal on Dwight's first day back from suspension.  She put Dwight on the bus and he went to school like he normally does.  Dwight went through the entire school day without incident.  Just before Dwight's last class of the day, the vice-principal sees Dwight in the hallway and asks him why he's at school without his mother.  Dwight responds that his mother went to work and couldn't make it.  The vice-principal tells Dwight that he's not allowed back on campus until his mother has attended the required meeting.  The vice-principal then calls campus police and has Dwight arrested for criminal trespass.  This occurs less than one hour before the end of the school day.

Dwight now has a court date and is going to miss another day of school.  He now has a prosecutor who wants to convict him of a Class B Misdemeanor.  He now has a probation officer assigned to his case who is asking for 9 months of probation.  He now has to get a lawyer (through hire or appointment) to protect his rights.  

Can we quit putting these kids into the system for these kinds of things?!?