You Do Realize That's It's Real Time They're Doing In There, Don't You?

There's this great scene from the movie . . . And Justice For All where the main character, played by Al Pacino, attacks his colleague for a seeming lack of sympathy for a client who has been sentenced to 3 years in custody.

Arthur - Agge did not have to go to jail! Do you understand? He did not have to go to jail!

Warren - He gets out on probation in 10 months. Listen, that's not all my fault! You don't want those penny ante bullshit cases, I was doing you a favor!

Arthur - A favor? What kind of favor?

Warren - It's nickel and dime Arthur. It's all nickle and dime.

Arthur - Don't you care, Warren? Don't you even care?

Warren - If you care so much why weren't you in the courtroom? You're god damn right I care...but not about them.

Arthur - They're people Warren, you know? They're people, they're just people.

Warren - If he's not in jail this week, he'll be in jail next week. Oh god dammit you know probations....just appeal it!

I try to remind myself of that scene before I go talk to any client about time they may be facing. I try to remind myself that this is time that they may end up doing. I try to remind myself that this is time that they will never get back in their lives. I try to remind myself that while they are doing this time, they will have loved ones who they miss and who are missing them. I try to remind myself of that scene, because I never want to be dismissive of the fact that my clients are real people and some of them may spend real time in custody.

Given the above, I get upset whenever I hear a prosecutor say "Oh, it's just (insert number) (years, months, days, . . . etc.)." Again, this is real time that someone is doing.

The reason this comes up today is because today I received a phone call from the family of a former client. I represented this client on a misdemeanor theft charge. We reached an agreement with the state whereby the case would not be filed if my client jumped through some hoops (i.e., paid restitution, affidavit of non-prosecution from victim, etc.). My client did the things he needed to do and the state agreed not to file the case. Evidently, someone dropped the ball and the state filed the case some months later. My client, who had since moved to Houston, was arrested on a failure to appear because when the state sent him his summons, he did not receive it and he did not appear.

By the time I found out what was going on (my client was in custody in Harris County and I am in South Texas), my client had already been in custody for two days. I contacted the prosecutor who had agreed not to file on the case and he promised to "take care of it." I called the next day to see what the prosecutor had done and he hadn't done a thing. I explained to him that my client was sitting in custody for no reason. The prosecutor's response was "It's just a few days in county. He's still got a good deal even if he doesn't get out for another week."

I understand that it was "just a few days in county." But in those few days, my client's family was worried sick about what was going on. In those few days, my client missed 36 hours of work and 36 hours of pay. In those few days, my client had his liberty restricted, needlessly. And this is time he will never get back.