Good Day in Court, aka Free the Criminals!

I had a good day.

About a month ago, a mom came to see me because she didn't feel like her son's attorney was doing a good job. The son had been charged with felony grand theft. The attorney had initially said that he would be able to keep the son out of jail, as the son didn't have any priors, but after a few appearances, the attorney told the mom that although the attorney could get the charge reduced to a misdemeanor, the son was going to have to do 90 days. The mom was very distressed.

And what I hate about taking over on a case like this is: What if I can't get a deal for the defendant that's any better than the deal that the prior attorney was getting? I would feel bad charging additional money for my time if I can't do any differently.

But the mom understood this. I explained what I could do that was different from what the prior attorney had done, and that I had had success with my tactics in previous cases, but that I couldn't guarantee a different outcome.

I made one appearance about 2 weeks ago, met the D.A., and he said he wasn't budging on his offer to the prior attorney. I figured that, and I had told the mom to expect this result at the first appearance I made.

Today, though, I asked for a chamber's conference and the unexpected happened. The judge undercut the D.A.! My client got the charged reduced to a misdemeanor, 30 days caltrans, and 500 hours of community service. No jail! And if my client goes back and shows proof that he enlisted in the service, the judge is going to dismiss the charges.

Now, I am taking credit for having the insight or experience to know to ask for a chamber's conference. But I can't take credit for the fact that my client got lucky that he got this judge. I'm not going to say who the judge was, or where, but there are reasons (I found out) for why the judge undercut the D.A.

This wasn't supposed to happen this way, but I'll take it.

I almost forgot to add the ditzy parts. I had gone into chambers to talk to the judge and the D.A. and I thought the judge said it would be charged as a felony, so I filled out the felony plea forms. But it didn't make sense that the client would be able to go into court and show proof of enlistment if he had a felony on his record. If you have a felony, the military won't take you.

I went back in to talk to the judge and he explained that the kid was being charged with a misdemeanor. I had already told the kid and his mom that he was being charged with a felony but that if he did the military thing, it would be dismissed. You can imagine their relief when they found out that the kid was only being charged with a misdemeanor.

But it gets better. I had put on the form that he was still looking at 3 years in prison if he violated probation. Turns out that because it was reduced to a misdemeanor, he was only facing 1 year if he violated probation.

I kept looking better and better and ditzier and ditzier. Good thing I did such a good job.