Day in the Life of an ADA - Random Tuesday

There are so many fantastic stories that fall on my doorstep every single day.  Defendants, witnesses, police officer shenanigans, courtroom tales, and inter-office pranks.  The shame is that I cannot share most of them because I have to protect the investigations, witnesses, and have an ethical duty not to discuss pending cases.

Guess you'll just have to wait for the book.  (Hmmmm.  Idea!)

But I thought yesterday would be a great example of the much-heralded (I herald it at least) 'Day in the Life' series.

I arrived at work at 8:15 a.m.  Ten messages were already awaiting on my voicemail.  This was an unusual number unless I was returning from vacation, which I was not.  I immediately realized the day would be filled with uncertainty.

Officers started appearing at 9 a.m. for a scheduled grand jury presentation.  None ever arrive at the same time as each other or any civilian witnesses.  That's a problem because it is difficult to present a case to the grand jury if you are unsure any of your witnesses will show up.

It's a short day in the grand jury, so I was done by 10:40, which means I am ten minutes late for my 10:30 meeting.

Somehow eight officers, an attorney, and his client all arrived on time for my 10:30 meeting.  The client spent an hour waffling on whether to participate in the meeting.  When he finally does, the meeting lasted until 1:40.  My cell phone would not stop ringing during the meeting.  I had to keep excusing myself to guide an officer through a specialized juvenile arrest.

That meant a quick bite of my sandwich as I waited for my 2:00 appointment, who showed up at 2:30.  That break gave me some time to return the prior ten voicemails and the eleven more that had piled up since.

My 2:00/2:30 appointment didn't leave until 3:30, and I was lucky my 3:00 cancelled.  I settled in to do some work for an hour and a half before I had to leave.  However, one of my long-term investigations broke open involving many men with many illegal guns.  It is both a stroke of luck and another wrench in an a typically abnormal day.  I spent the rest of the day on the phone organizing the prosecution of the case over the next week.

There were only a few minutes left before I had to leave at 5:00, so I spent them returning phone calls.  The best part about the day?  A defense attorney called postponing our trial that was scheduled to start the next day due to his flu.  No, I'm not cheering the illness, just the postponement.  It was a chance to  get some pressing work done tomorrow.

This job's history guarantees that probably won't happen.  An emergency always comes up.

More Like This:

Day in the Life of an ADA
Night in the Life of an ADA
Life of an ADA - NYC edition - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

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