My purpose for writing this blog is to record my interesting and funny experiences as a public defender. My memory is so crummy lately that I need to write stuff down in order to remember it. Wish I had started in 2005 when I started as a PD in Lagrange, GA, but better late than never.
I filed a habeas petition for a client and we finally had the hearing last week. I testifed for a couple of hours last Tuesday afternoon about my ineffectiveness in his case. I'm going to ask for a copy of the transcript for my personal Sherismithsonian (with acknowledgement for patterning my name after the Aerosmithsonian - unlike their collection, my archive does not include panties thrown at me. Thank goodness no panties have ever been thrown at me.) Testifying made for an interesting change. Elizabeth Grant represented my client and did her usual very thorough job. The prosecutor was Reed Newland who had worked in the PD's office before jumping ship earlier this year. I screwed up in this case by handling a guilty plea for my client in a statutory rape case soon after I'd inherited the caseload from another attorney who left our office. At the time I handled the plea, I should have known but did not know that the guy had some mental health issues and some functioning deficit issues. Since entering his plea, the guy has had 3 or 4 probation violations and 2 or three new charges for failure to register as a sex offender. No way this guy can ever successfully comply with the sex offender registration requirements. The only way to sort this out was to admit I'd screwed up and try ot undo the plea.
I'm a big proponent of admitting when I screw something up. It's always better to admit it yourself than to have to hear someone else say it first. Especially easy to admit screwing up in a situation like this one, where my admission of screwing up might actually help straighten out this guy's sentence. It's not like I don't mess things up on a regular basis being human and everything, but thank goodness most of my screw ups are not directly responsible for a negative consequence to my client. The worst part of the whole thing was how the judge, Reed, and Elizabeth all treated me about it. They all made sure to tell me that it gave them no pleasure to have to point out my failings. Umm, okay. Did they think that I would take this personally? I claimed ineffective on myself, people. Elizabeth said early and often that we as public defenders (and she as a former public defender) get put into impossible situations where we make mistakes. Yep. They seemed to be tiptoeing and buttering up to try to make sure I knew that they were not judging me for having screwed up.
It just felt weird.
The tiptoeing and buttering gave me the impression (incorrect, I'm sure, knowing all the people involved) that they all looked down on me but were carefully conspiring together to make sure I did not notice it. Why did it feel that way? Just the three against one logistics? I don't think so. In the courtroom everyone gangs up on the PDs: the judge, DA, cops, probation officers, some Clerks of Court (BL and that hag in Turner Co.), some court reporters (Hi, CW), alleged victims and their friends and family members, and last but not least our very own clients. As I said, I'm pretty sure Elizabeth, Reed, and the judge do not look down on me. The judge likes me and has complimented me on my performance at trial. Reed knows that given half a chance I can wipe up the floor with him. I think Elizabeth sees me as an equal, or at least in the same general zip code.
I just hope the judge lets this guy withdraw his plea. Then I assume someone else (sorry, Ryan) will have to unravel the rest of the mess.
This is already a longer post than I planned, but one more note about the events of last week. I experienced the uncomfortable vortex of a case where I really disliked my own client, I thought he was guilty as charged, and I really, really liked the alleged victim. Boy was that a mess. Thank goodness a completely irresistible plea offer was made. I did not want to try that case where I was going to be put into the position of making a very nice, very smart, very vulnerable and badly treated young person look like a manipulative liar to defend a client whom I believed to be a (extra points for the irony) manipulative liar. Yes, folks, it's the situation that all my non-pd friends believe I live on a daily basis. You know, the friends who say "How can you do that job?" This kind of situation occurs a lot less often than most people think. And that's a good thing, because I for one would have a hard time doing this job if I were in the vortex routinely. I disliked this client so much that I hated for him to even get such a good plea deal. He took the deal and the case is over. Amen.
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