Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Random Tuesday in Court

I took a few days off last week to deal with some unexpected family issues.  The desk never clears for the first few days back.  Unlike scheduled vacations, unexpected time off doesn't allow for preparations.

Even though I was in town, I didn't check emails or voicemails. You better believe I'm paying for that this week.

Monday was an absolute mess.  I had no idea what my schedule was.  A dozen voicemails and a hundred emails waited.  Tuesday was looking clear, until colleagues reminded me of some cases I had scheduled and a training I had signed up to help with.

I had five cases on total for Tuesday.  Two in city court in the morning.  The training from 11:30-2:15.  Then three pleas and a pre-trial conference on at 2:00.  Most of my voicemails were defense attorneys telling me that the pleas were falling through.  My back was against the wall with time left on some of those cases, so I had to scramble to prepare grand jury presentations if the pleas did not go forward.

Sometimes, the legal gods do smile on us though.  The two defendants in the morning both voluntarily provided me DNA, saving me months of legal arguments and testing. The training went smoothly and even finished early so I made it to court on time.

One defense attorney asked me to send his 15 year old gun point robber to family court or he wouldn't plea.  Another defense attorney told me his client would make a motion to fire him.  I had grand jury scheduled for both.  Prepared for the worst, I entered the courtroom for an afternoon session.  

The defendant looking to fire his attorney?  Had a change of heart when we brought him to the judge.  He decided to plead guilty to our reduced plea offer.

The 15 year old looking for family court?  Once the judge and I explained that the defendant has already been through family court numerous unsuccessful times, the defense attorney stopped asking.  His client plead guilty.  

My third plea went without a hitch.

I walked out of the courtroom and couldn't believe the entire day had gone so well. Some days, luck shines on you.  It's usually when you thought good luck forgot you existed though.

1 comment:

  1. Glad it turned out well after you had to deal with the unexpected issues! Hope the good luck continues at home and at work!

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