iPhone Apps for Lawyers

Thought this may be a helpful link for some of you: Top Ten Legal iPhone Apps.

Looks like I'm having my first jury next week on a DUI case. The defendant insisted on a speedy trial, so this was only set last week. Shouldn't be too big of a deal. I have 3 witnesses- the civilian who reported the defendant's bad driving, the arresting officer, and the criminalist from the Department of Justice. I haven't had to do jury instructions, verdict forms, voir dire questions before, so trying to make sure I have everything covered. Hope I'm not forgetting anything...

I'm Engaged!

I went to law school to have something to do with my life once my children finished school. I had expected it to be primarily a solitary venture, not anticipating the friends I would make along the way. Even more unexpected was, in the midst of my horrible last semester, finding a best friend and companion that I admire and respect, and having that relationship blossom into love.

We've decided to get married later this year. I feel incredible lucky to have my fiancé as my partner now and for the rest of my life. Finding love when and where you least expect it is pretty sweet!!!

I Can Admit It- Not All Defense Attorneys Are Scum

I'm sure I have given the impression that defense attorneys are all pretty much arrogant, difficult, stupid, or worthless. True, a lot of the ones I deal with most regularly do fall into at least one of those categories. However, I sometimes have a pleasant encounter with one, so to present a peek into the other side (sliver?) I'll tell you about a case I worked on the other day.

The attorney had called me prior to the case being in court the last time it was on calendar. We spoke briefly about it, and once in court, he greeted me, and set it out for another few weeks. He called me again the other day, a couple of days prior to being on calendar and spoke with me further about it. He asked me specific questions, and gave me time to get answers for him.

Once I appeared in court on this yesterday, I was swamped with a huge stack of unorganized files (not my doing!) and several attorneys trying to speak with me at once, while trying to pay attention and appear on the record. This attorney saw the situation and said we could just set it out another couple of weeks.

Here's what he did right: he contacted me prior to court, introduced himself, simply explained his case and what he was looking for. Once he showed up in court, he again introduced himself. He did not push me, make things more difficult for me or grandstand in court, but instead, helped me out and treated me with respect.

As a result, after I went back to my office, his case was a priority to me. I looked into it. I called the victim in the case. I checked the defendant's record. I talked to my supervisor, and came up with an offer for the attorney's client. I then called him and relayed this offer, which his client will most likely accept at the next court date.

I don't understand why they can't all act like way. Just be respectful, helpful and honest. You'll end up getting a better deal for your client and probably much quicker too.

Major Can of Whup-Ass

That's apparently what I gave the opposing defense attorney* in a suppression hearing yesterday. At least according to another DDA who was in the courtroom witnessing it. I didn't feel like that's what I was doing, but it was very cool to hear the DDA describe it that way to everyone at lunch yesterday.

I was in court yesterday until about 3:30pm. While I loved it, it was also mentally draining. But I do love the challenge of things getting more complicated that I anticipated. The hearing that I thought would be over in a half hour went on for nearly two. While I knew the law and the facts of my case and felt like I argued convincingly, I am not good at judging how I am coming across to the judge (or others in the courtroom). I suppose that's why I appreciate the comment from the other DDA so much.

This case involved a DUI checkpoint. I had written several motions about checkpoints while at the U.S. Attorney's office, so I was familiar with the law in this area and only too eager to have the chance to write a response that included California law on the subject. I wrote a thorough 11 page response to defense's meager 2 pager. I argued that not only the checkpoint was legal, even if it wasn't it didn't matter because the police had probable cause to stop the defendant to conduct an investigation based on his erratic driving.

Defense tried to use the case law I cited against me, claiming the police had not conducted the checkpoint properly. In the end, the judge sided with me, saying the checkpoint was done legally AND that the officer had independent reasons to stop the defendant any way. SCORE! :)

After this, I had a preliminary hearing to do. Though that was only a half hour or so, I was exhausted by that point. Thank goodness it was only against OTWS, so it wasn't terribly challenging. Ok, there was drugs in the car. Your guys were in the car. The car was small. The drugs were in plain view. All occupants had immediate access to the drugs. Boom. They are all held to answer for transportation of that cocaine and marijuana in the vehicle. No biggie.

So far, I've conducted 6 preliminary hearings (or is it 7?) and all defendants have been held to answer to the charges in the complaints against them. I've had at least as many suppression hearings, and the court has always ruled in my favor, always denying defense's motion to suppress evidence. I know, nothing really big yet. Hoping to have one of the jury trials we currently have set for June actually happen.

*(This guy is not usually in my courtroom, though I have seen him before. In keeping with my tradition, I'm giving him the designation of "PS", as he wears the weirdest clothes, including one blue and white checked shirts that looks like a picnic tablecloth- "Picnic Shirt".)

Pick the Perp

Let's see how well you do at picking the perp.