Friday, May 4, 2012

Day in the Life of an ADA - Random Thursday

The day started at 8:32 a.m.  I was two minutes late.  It's been a long week catching up from a mini-vacation.

Detectives arrived for a conference at 9:00 a.m.  A conference is where the officers tell me about their investigation and arrest.  I ask questions about it, trying to ascertain how strong/weak it was.  Or how legal/illegal the search or taking of the statement was.  The detectives brought additional robberies they suspected this defendant committed.  One gun point robbery now morphed into four.  We must get DNA, phone records, and determine if the victims in those cases could identify the defendant.

10:00.  Another set of officers arrived for the grand jury.  I waited outside the grand jury waiting my turn in line.  I flipped my wrist every thirty seconds to look at my watch.  I had a conference call at 10:30 about a presentation I was giving in two weeks.

A kind soul let me cut in the grand jury line and I made it for the conference call at 10:29.

11:00 to 1:00 involved unsuccessful attempts to clear the paperwork off my desk and organize my files.

1:00 another detective called.  He was concerned that a recent defendant was directing threats of a victim from jail.  The defendant's purpose was to ensure the victim did not appear at the felony hearing the next day.  The defendant would then walk out of jail.

1:30.  The detective brought the victim to my office, with the victim's parents.  We spent the next hour discussing the benefits/disadvantages of testifying.  They left at 2:30 and I was unsure I'd ever see them again.

2:30.  More officers arrived for a conference.  This involved a major on-going gang violence and narcotics investigation.  It was an intelligence sharing meeting.  There were over 100 targets and 200 cases discussed.  It was 5:00 when they left my office.

5:15.  I left work.  The paperwork sat on my desk for another day.  Maybe tomorrow?

1 comment:

  1. Wow, that's a lot on your plate. I work in a law office and never seem to make a dent in the paperwork no matter how hard I work!

    ReplyDelete