Re: Am I right or wrong? - Response to Carol

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Thanks for the input. I don't blame the guy who was left behind. I
blame the other ADA who should have noted the file "dismissed" (they
never seem to have a problem noting "minimum two years to serve").
And to be honest, I have had an excellent relationship with these
ADAs. But when push comes to shove, they only do what they want to
do - ten seconds of their time is worth more than three hours of my
time in their book. I think their attitude comes partly from
arrogance (which they obtain by being given so much power so
quickly), partly from general immaturity (even the supervisor has
only been practicing for three years), and most of all from not
knowing what the real world is like, where lawyers watch each
other's back (which can be done at the same time the clients are
well-represented).

On 6/19/06, Carol wrote:
> Further point: as with solo2, that is sop at a couple of the
> courts in my county as well. Sometimes it is actually the judges
> who want to keep the docket going and just will not wait for the
> prosecutor to go check with his boss. It may have been
> intentional, or it may have been that the poor guy was just
> overwhelmed at the moment and didn't want to actually dismiss a
> case if he shouldn't. You said he only had 2 months experience.
> Maybe this was his first court trial and he was just really
> nervous? Perhaps it would be beneficial to foster a working
> relationship with the office so that if this comes up again they
> will take your word for it? If it's possible, I know sometimes
> that it's not depending on personalities. Also, I would casually
> or partly joking remind him that he "owes you one" (a favor) for
> keeping you sitting around for 3 hours. as my mentor always
> said "don't take yourself so seriously." Yes, time is money but
> sometimes it's worth the time to get a good rapport going with the
> other side.
>
> On 6/19/06, Criminal Defense Attorney wrote:
>> Thanks for the responses, and thanks to Hardy for the kind
>> words. I've decided not to let this bother me any longer.
>>
>> Solo2 described the ADA's behavior as either intentional or
>> thoughtless. I would call it intentionally thoughtless.
>>
>> Thanks for the responses.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6/18/06, solo2 wrote:
>>> Dear CDA:
>>>
>>> Its interesting to me that you're so upset. Where I used to
>>> practice what you described was standard operating procedure.
>>> Further, it does seem that there is at least an element of
>>> doubt as to whether the ADA was acting intentionally or just
>>> being thoughtless. Where I'm from, there's no doubt about it,
>>> its intentional, especially when you beat the ADA in a case
>> the
>>> day before. They treat you like crap for the next 3 weeks
>>> until someone else beats them and moves to the top of their
>>> shit list. what's worse, the judges and the DA let it happen
>>> without looking twice.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/18/06, Hardy Parkerson, Atty. - Lake Charles wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dear Criminal Defense Attorney,
>>>>
>>>> First of all, congratulations for doing your client a
>>>> great job! You won! Pat yourself on the back! What the
>>>> first Assistant D.A. did, was not thougtful. You are right
>>>> about that, but unless it was intentional, you should just
>>>> overlook it and be glad you were not treated worse. It is the
>>>> very nature of some A.D.A.s to think they are "gods" and that
>>>> criminal defense lawyers are zezroes. Old saying: Don't get
>>>> even, get ahead. You are obviously a great criminal lawyer,
>>>> so just think of yourself as such; and great criminal lawyers
>>>> do their best always to get along with assistant D.A.s, even
>>>> when A.D.A.s do them wrong. Visualize what you would like to
>>>> be as a lawyer, and begin to think that way. Pick out what
>>>> you want in your career as a lawyer, pay the price and take
>>>> it. Again, congratuations! By the way, If you would care to
>>>> do so, I would appreciate your e-mailing me about where you
>>>> are located and your name, in the event I should ever need to
>>>> contact a good lawyer in your area. Keep up the good work!
>>>>
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>
>>>> Hardy Parkerson, Attorney - Lake Charles, LA
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 6/17/06, Criminal Defense Attorney wrote:
>>>>> I'm wondering if other attorneys could give an opinion if
>>>>> I'm right or wrong on a recent incident I was involved
>>>>> with.
>>>>>
>>>>> I had a criminal case that was marked for trial.
>>>>> Basically, my client's punk teenage son made a false
>>>>> report to the police that he was assaulted by his father.
>>>>> It was later well documented by youth services that the
>>>>> kid (who has a long history of disciplinary problems) made
>>>>> the story up so he could get rid of his father for the
>>>>> night and have a party.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyway, the Assistant DA agreed to dismiss the case based
>>>>> on the mountain of evidence that my client (a former
>>>>> marine) was a victim of his lying son. Which brings me to
>>>>> the incident in question. Just before the call of the list
>>>>> first thing in the morning, the ADA I was dealing with
>>>>> disappeared to another courtroom to try another case. Her
>>>>> replacement (a two month veteran) told the judge that he
>>>>> did not know what was going on with our case, and asked
>>>>> for further call, after HIS bench trial. So I had to wait
>>>>> around for over three hours until his trial was done, at
>>>>> which time he discovered that, yes, the case was to be
>>>>> dismissed (it took him about one minute to ascertain
>>>>> this). The dismissal hearing took all of thirty seconds.
>>>>>
>>>>> I politely complained to the supervising ADA that this was
>>>>> very disrespectful of my time. I felt that the ADA should
>>>>> have told her replacement to dismiss the case and allow me
>>>>> to leave. Before dismissing me, she informed me that since
>>>>> my client commited a crime, it was our problem that we had
>>>>> too wait.
>>>>>
>>>>> Solos know how valuable our time is. To me, for an ADA to
>>>>> nonchalantly make me hang around for three hours is
>>>>> arrogance at its highest. Am I overreacting? I know
>>>>> there's nothing that can be done, the incident is in the
>>>>> past, but I guess I'm looking to either be validated or
>>>>> told I'm taking this too seriously.
>>>>>
>>>>> Opinions are appreciated.