This best describes the character that I have observed in almost  every client I have ever represented at trial. Each and everyone of them have taught me the true meaning of courage.  As a criminal defense attorney, I am committed to seeing every case I take through no matter what, come hell or high water, and come what may. It’s not an easy job, but it is certainly not easier to be one of my clients sitting in that chair next to me, listening to the evidence against them, and to me as I fight for them, and then waiting for 12 jurors to decide their fate.  I am often humbled by their courage.

Sins, but not crimes, gifts not contributions, his lawyers say.  I would probably spin it that way too.  But still, it’s pretty sickening.   I don’t know, folks.  Do we forgive this one?

http://tinyurl.com/892ubo6

John Edwards and Family in Better Days

In a New York Times piece this past weekend, Michelle Alexander writes about how things would be different if instead of only 10% of all criminal cases going to trial, 90% of all defendants charged with a crime actually exercised their constitutional right to a trial by jury.  She writes about how that would crash the system, and perhaps bring about a change where the prosecutors were forced to scale back dramatically the number of criminal cases charged:

“The system of mass incarceration depends almost entirely on the cooperation of those it seeks to control. If everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers or prison cells to deal with the ensuing tsunami of litigation. Not everyone would have to join for the revolt to have an impact; as the legal scholar Angela J. Davis noted, “if the number of people exercising their trial rights suddenly doubled or tripled in some jurisdictions, it would create chaos.”

Such chaos would force mass incarceration to the top of the agenda for politicians and policy makers, leaving them only two viable options: sharply scale back the number of criminal cases filed (for drug possession, for example) or amend the Constitution (or eviscerate it by judicial “emergency” fiat). Either action would create a crisis and the system would crash — it could no longer function as it had before.”

To see the whole article, go to  http://tinyurl.com/7e2wuaj

http://tinyurl.com/78en3fs

http://tinyurl.com/738ysqp

To me, it really does not matter whether my client is involved in a civil or a criminal case.  The stakes are always high, and my commitment to passionately advocating for my client is the same.   In every case I accept, I look for the thread of humanity that runs through it.   It does not matter whether I am dealing with a white collar case where my client is accused of stealing millions of dollars, or a criminal case where my client is accused of murder.   In either scenario, I am always listening for the human dynamics that underlie what really happened here – the universal human themes that run through every case, whether it is filed by the government against an individual as a criminal case, or between individuals in a civil dispute.

At the heart of every case are the people and their story. From the first call from the client, to the closing argument in court, my primary focus is what really happened, because every case, whether civil or criminal, involves a human drama where the client is the star, and my job is to first understand and then tell their story in the most compelling, compassionate way.   The law and rules of evidence and procedure are a means to this end, the tools in my tool box.   My clients know that when they hire me, I will tirelessly work to prepare their case and collaborate with them so that they get their constitutionally-guaranteed day in court.

I believe that fundamentally we are the same, and that every court case involves the culmination of a larger drama written in the language of universal human experience. I like to spend a lot of time preparing with my clients so that I can learn as much as I can about what happened and the people involved in their case.  I immerse myself in their reality.  If I can truly understand what happened on an intellectual and an emotional level, then I can convey that to the jurors in a way that will resonate with them.  This is my gift to my clients, and my purpose in doing this work.

Here are some examples of what realignment means:

Sentences for most felonies that are nonserious, nonviolent and nonregisterable sex offenses (so-called “non-non-non felonies”), if the defendant also has no prior serious, violent or registerable convictions, will now be served in the county jail.  See Pen C §1170(h)(2)-(3).

Felonies with non-specified terms in the underlying statute will be punishable by a term of 16 months, 2 years or 3 years in the county jail.  Pen C §§18; 1170(h)(1). Sentences for these offenses may include a period of county jail and a period of probation not to exceed the maximum possible term.  Pen C §1170(h)(5).

Counties may permit electronic monitoring in lieu of bail (Pen C §1203.018) or home detention in lieu of jail (Pen C §1203.016). Time on electronic monitoring or home detention counts toward mandatory minimum sentences. Pen C §2900.5.

Individuals convicted of a current or prior serious or violent offense,  who are required to register under Pen C §290 or whose sentence is enhanced under Pen C §186.11 (taking more than $100,000 under certain circumstances), must serve their current term in prison.  Pen C §1170(h)(3).

Individuals convicted of felonies punishable by a prescribed term of county jail in the underlying statute will not be supervised after release; there will be no period of parole.

Prison sentences for non-non-non felonies will be followed by a period of up to 3 years of Postrelease Community Supervision administered by the counties. Violations of Post Release Community Supervision can be punished in many ways, including flash incarceration.  Revocations must be done by a new Court Revocation Officer.   Pen C §§3450-3458.

Beginning July 1, 2013, the parole revocation process will become a county court-based process. Until then, parole revocations will continue under the Board of Parole Hearings.

The new criminal sentencing provisions and most of the post-release and parole provisions are operative on and after October 1, 2011.

Most of our male clients are in legal troubles up to their eyeballs because of a woman, usually one they loved at one time (and usually one who is not their mother).   From the angry baby mama who snitched, to the underaged stepdaughter who lied to police about her stepdad’s alleged sexual advances, to the vindictive soon-to-be-ex-wife who fabricates a battery charge in order to send her husband back to state prison for a probation violation.    It’s not just a trend.  It’s a sad fact of the matter that dysfunctional human relationships are at the core of most criminal cases we defend.

If this sounds familiar, you don’t need just a good lawyer or legal technician.  You need a great lawyer.  You need a lawyer who gets it.

That’s what separates the good lawyers from the great ones.  Those who understand human dynamics and the stuff of human relationships, the universality of the personal issues which underlie each and every criminal case.  One who can communicate with you and communicate about you while in front of a jury.  One who will resonate with the jury and who can tell your story in a compelling, compassionate way so that not just you and he/she get it, but so that the jury can get it, too.

The lawyers who do that the best are highly empathic and persuasive, in addition to being very skilled at what they do.   They have not only been around a courtroom, but they have been around the block.

We get it.  Sure, we know the law (and when we don’t, we know where to look it up), but mostly we know human relationships.  It’s ironic that world renowned scientist Albert Einstein was reported to have said, “Work on humanity, and forget all the rest.”  That one thought drives us to a great extent in every case we defend – not only in understanding the true humanity of a client but conveying to the jury the very core of exactly what happened, and who our client is.

I won a felony child abuse case (Penal Code Section 273a(a)) this past Monday afternoon in Compton.  After 5 days of trial, the Jury deliberated for two and one-half hours, before they returned a verdict of not-guilty for my client, who is by far one of the most courageous young women I have ever met.  She refused all offers to plead, believing steadfastly that she did not do anything wrong.  She placed her trust in me, and her faith in the jurors, and they did the right thing.  Justice was served, and I am honored to have been a part of that.  I am humbled and proud to have stood by my client, in what were probably the scariest days of her life, and that she chose me as her lawyer.  Results like these make the loss of sleep, the long hours, and the price of gasoline well worth it.