spankymuffin

Blasts fired.

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ryeandginger, you goddamn cock-block...

Oh I can definitely understand it. I'm a defense attorney, so I've dealt with people from all levels of knowledge and exposure to the law.

It can be very difficult to deal with people who are experienced with the criminal justice system. They have heard all kinds of things from inmates, friends and relatives that may be flat-out wrong; and they've seen and heard all kinds of things from previous attorneys or from judges while they're sitting in court that they may not have fully understood. So there are certain things they may think they know, and feel very confident about, but it's really a huge misunderstanding of the law. Because the law is really, really tricky. These are people who may not have high school diplomas, let alone law degrees. And even attorneys fail to understand subtle distinctions. I've heard attorneys from all levels of experience say all kinds of ridiculous things in court.

Some examples. I've had clients who tell me "the officer isn't here so they have to drop my case." Which is wrong because, you know, the prosecutor can just ask for a postponement; and depending on the circumstances, they may or may not get it. "But no," they tell me, "because last year they had another case dropped because the officer wasn't there." Or "just the other day, when I was in court, I saw a whole bunch of people get their cases dropped because their officers weren't there." So you ask them who the Judge was, and it happens to be a Judge who doesn't grant State postponements if the officer isn't there. Or you ask them what the offense was, and it was something far, far pettier, like a speeding ticket, so the prosecutor probably didn't bother asking for a postponement. Or you ask them how many previous postponements or court dates they had in those cases, which makes subsequent requests harder for the state. They think it's a "rule" because it happened to them or others in the past, but they didn't know the larger context that an attorney would know.

Just one little example, but it happens all the time. You get clients who very genuinely believe they know more about the law than you do because they've been in the system for 20 years and you've only been practicing law for 5. While I have no doubt that they know more about life as an inmate, the little knowledge they do have may be more dangerous than helpful!

NO MEN, TRY HARDER! WE'LL PULL THROUGH!