I'd been having the greatest day and week, running around downtown, learning my new job, and taking in the adulation of several of the lawyers I now work with. Sadly, the reality of what I now do for a living, smacked me square in the face today.
I was assigned to a case, Monday this week, in order to observe court room procedures. However, me being me, I couldn't just watch. Besides, simply watching was way too boring. I jumped in, and found myself becoming emotionally involved, even though I didn't realize it at the time.
All the pre-trial work had been done, as the trial had already begun, so I was helping with last minute witnesses prep (letting our witnesses know what was going to happen and when, as well as calming their nerves), jury feedback (me watching the jury at key moments of testimony and telling the lawyer what I saw), and providing legal interpretation to the family throughout the trial (basically, explaining all the legalese). The legal interpretation part is what got me so involved with the family, although I never had the opportunity to speak to our client.
Our client was charged with three counts of attempted murder in the first degree and three counts of first degree assault. Basically, he stabbed three guys several times, and without immediate medical attention, they would have died. The DA argued that he had planned to do this, and therefore should be convicted on all charges.
We argued that it was self defense. Did our client stab three men, and nearly kill them? Yes. However, as our side showed, he was stabbing them while on his back in a McDonald's drive through lane, as one of the others was literally on top of him, while the other two took turns kicking him, and then knocking him down again and jumping on top of him. One of them kicked him six times in the head. As of today, doctor's are still trying to determine if he has permanent brain damage, as his skull was "dented."
The potential verdict sounds pretty easy, right? Unfortunately, our client initiated the incident by throwing the first punch and hitting the first of the three, which was followed by the first guy punching our client so hard (some say deservedly so), that the other two (yet to become) assailants testified that they heard the sound of "bone hitting bone", and our client was on the ground. After that, he got up, and that's when all hell broke loose.
Yes, our client started something he shouldn't have, but upon realizing what he was getting into, he literally raised his hands in the air, and backed away. All of our witnesses, including the McDonald's drive through employee (she saw the entire thing), the customer (he was the only customer) in the drive through line, and two people walking along the sidewalk, all confirmed this. It was at that moment that the law recognizes our client was now in a self defense mode.
The ensuing scuffle resulted in our client punching all of them, while holding a pocket knife between his fingers, so that every punch resulted in a stab wound, except for the first punch that started the whole thing. Our client produced this knife as soon as he realized he was completely out-matched, both in numbers and in weight class. Our client is 140 pounds, and all three of his assailants are 200+. One versus three and 140 pounds versus 600+ pounds. Our client's assailants were aware of the fact that our client had had a knife, but that didn't seem to deter them.
In the end, our client was found guilty of one of the three counts of attempted murder in the first degree (because he hit the first guy initially (not an attempted first degree murder act)), but also guilty on all three subsequent counts of first degree assault on all the three of his assailants.
Oh, and did I mention that our client was of Mexican decent, and the other three men were white? I'm not trying to say anything political here, I'm just relaying the facts.
The DA showed pictures of the stab wounds repeatedly (that was the 'kill shot', if you will), and had the "victims" testify on the stand as to how their lives have changed, due to the injuries they sustained.
Oh, and let me add that everyone involved was drunk. Nothing worse than young men, testosterone, anger, and alcohol to create the worst situation possible.
During the reading of the verdicts, around 4:30pm today, I found myself sitting in the front row (reserved for members of the legal team that aren't lawyers), and I could hear our client's family members sitting behind me, quietly crying. They knew their loved one was going away for a very long time, although actual sentencing won't happen until next month. None the less, it broke my heart. The mothers' sobbing was particularly difficult. Afterwords, my team met up with the family in the hallway, outside the courtroom. They were all in various stages of grief. My lawyer talked to them about the appeals process, but eventually had to tell them what the minimum sentence would be. I was struggling to fight back the tears. Then my lawyer began to choke up. At that point I simply had to look away, as did the investigator who actually worked the case.
After the family left, my lawyer went over to the jail to visit our client, just to see how he was holding up (he was doing far better than the rest of us). Israel, the actual investigator on this case, and I walked back to the office. He's been doing this for a little over nine years now, and he instantly recognized that the new guy (me) was having difficulty dealing with the family's reaction. As we walked back to the office, he talked to me about what just happened. He also warned me that when it's my case, and we lose, it's going to be allot harder, because I will be even more emotionally invested. I remember asking him if this happened allot, and he told me that while we may lose, we typically don't lose like this when our client is either totally innocent or more innocent than guilty. In the end, I found his counsel very reassuring, but the way today ended still sucked.
Israel and I hung out in his office for a while, continuing to talk about the case and trial. Although he was clearly having trouble dealing with the verdict, he continued to bolster me up. He said, "You know, in the end, no matter what the outcome is, no matter how innocent or guilty our clients are, and no matter what they've done, they're still human. Our client was thrown away by the system today. He's going to prison. No rehab, no psychological counseling, no anger management that will amount to anything. Just thrown away." It was at this point that Israel, finally, began to tear up. Through his investigation of this case, he came to know our client, and his family, and the verdict hit him pretty hard. "It sucks, but sometimes, that's the way the system works. This is a young man that will never be allowed to know his true potential, all because he made a really stupid mistake."
Our client is going to prison for at least thirty years, that being the minimum sentence for the four counts he was found guilty of. He's twenty one years old now, so he'll likely be at least fifty one when he gets out. The parol system doesn't look kindly on violent offenders, no matter how well behaved they are in prison.
I know this may sound like a bleeding heart liberal so saddened by what I consider to be an unjust verdict of a young man, but let me just tell you that I have seen both sides of this particular story. I understand the wrongs our client committed, and I understand the suffering his "victims" continue to endure.
Our client was charged with three counts of attempted murder in the first degree and three counts of first degree assault. Basically, he stabbed three guys several times, and without immediate medical attention, they would have died. The DA argued that he had planned to do this, and therefore should be convicted on all charges.
We argued that it was self defense. Did our client stab three men, and nearly kill them? Yes. However, as our side showed, he was stabbing them while on his back in a McDonald's drive through lane, as one of the others was literally on top of him, while the other two took turns kicking him, and then knocking him down again and jumping on top of him. One of them kicked him six times in the head. As of today, doctor's are still trying to determine if he has permanent brain damage, as his skull was "dented."
The potential verdict sounds pretty easy, right? Unfortunately, our client initiated the incident by throwing the first punch and hitting the first of the three, which was followed by the first guy punching our client so hard (some say deservedly so), that the other two (yet to become) assailants testified that they heard the sound of "bone hitting bone", and our client was on the ground. After that, he got up, and that's when all hell broke loose.
Yes, our client started something he shouldn't have, but upon realizing what he was getting into, he literally raised his hands in the air, and backed away. All of our witnesses, including the McDonald's drive through employee (she saw the entire thing), the customer (he was the only customer) in the drive through line, and two people walking along the sidewalk, all confirmed this. It was at that moment that the law recognizes our client was now in a self defense mode.
The ensuing scuffle resulted in our client punching all of them, while holding a pocket knife between his fingers, so that every punch resulted in a stab wound, except for the first punch that started the whole thing. Our client produced this knife as soon as he realized he was completely out-matched, both in numbers and in weight class. Our client is 140 pounds, and all three of his assailants are 200+. One versus three and 140 pounds versus 600+ pounds. Our client's assailants were aware of the fact that our client had had a knife, but that didn't seem to deter them.
In the end, our client was found guilty of one of the three counts of attempted murder in the first degree (because he hit the first guy initially (not an attempted first degree murder act)), but also guilty on all three subsequent counts of first degree assault on all the three of his assailants.
Oh, and did I mention that our client was of Mexican decent, and the other three men were white? I'm not trying to say anything political here, I'm just relaying the facts.
The DA showed pictures of the stab wounds repeatedly (that was the 'kill shot', if you will), and had the "victims" testify on the stand as to how their lives have changed, due to the injuries they sustained.
Oh, and let me add that everyone involved was drunk. Nothing worse than young men, testosterone, anger, and alcohol to create the worst situation possible.
During the reading of the verdicts, around 4:30pm today, I found myself sitting in the front row (reserved for members of the legal team that aren't lawyers), and I could hear our client's family members sitting behind me, quietly crying. They knew their loved one was going away for a very long time, although actual sentencing won't happen until next month. None the less, it broke my heart. The mothers' sobbing was particularly difficult. Afterwords, my team met up with the family in the hallway, outside the courtroom. They were all in various stages of grief. My lawyer talked to them about the appeals process, but eventually had to tell them what the minimum sentence would be. I was struggling to fight back the tears. Then my lawyer began to choke up. At that point I simply had to look away, as did the investigator who actually worked the case.
After the family left, my lawyer went over to the jail to visit our client, just to see how he was holding up (he was doing far better than the rest of us). Israel, the actual investigator on this case, and I walked back to the office. He's been doing this for a little over nine years now, and he instantly recognized that the new guy (me) was having difficulty dealing with the family's reaction. As we walked back to the office, he talked to me about what just happened. He also warned me that when it's my case, and we lose, it's going to be allot harder, because I will be even more emotionally invested. I remember asking him if this happened allot, and he told me that while we may lose, we typically don't lose like this when our client is either totally innocent or more innocent than guilty. In the end, I found his counsel very reassuring, but the way today ended still sucked.
Israel and I hung out in his office for a while, continuing to talk about the case and trial. Although he was clearly having trouble dealing with the verdict, he continued to bolster me up. He said, "You know, in the end, no matter what the outcome is, no matter how innocent or guilty our clients are, and no matter what they've done, they're still human. Our client was thrown away by the system today. He's going to prison. No rehab, no psychological counseling, no anger management that will amount to anything. Just thrown away." It was at this point that Israel, finally, began to tear up. Through his investigation of this case, he came to know our client, and his family, and the verdict hit him pretty hard. "It sucks, but sometimes, that's the way the system works. This is a young man that will never be allowed to know his true potential, all because he made a really stupid mistake."
Our client is going to prison for at least thirty years, that being the minimum sentence for the four counts he was found guilty of. He's twenty one years old now, so he'll likely be at least fifty one when he gets out. The parol system doesn't look kindly on violent offenders, no matter how well behaved they are in prison.
I know this may sound like a bleeding heart liberal so saddened by what I consider to be an unjust verdict of a young man, but let me just tell you that I have seen both sides of this particular story. I understand the wrongs our client committed, and I understand the suffering his "victims" continue to endure.
That having been said, the "victims"/assailants could have chosen to stay in their car, no matter what our client did. They could have chosen to simply drive home and avoid the entire incident. Instead, they chose to become involved, and now a young and promising man (top of his class in high school) will never know his true potential. All the while, three other young men, however injured, will feel empowered to do whatever they feel like to anyone else, because of today's verdict.
Anyway, the awesome people I work with, the amazing experiences I'm having, running around downtown Denver to various legal settings, getting to sink my teeth into serious legal issues, the (eventual) ability to set my own hours, my own office, and everything else that is absolutely awesome about my new job, there is a huge price to pay. Sadly, it's an emotional price tag, but just like everything else I've been forced to deal with, this to shall become another part of who I am, and I will emerge stronger for it.
Anyway, the awesome people I work with, the amazing experiences I'm having, running around downtown Denver to various legal settings, getting to sink my teeth into serious legal issues, the (eventual) ability to set my own hours, my own office, and everything else that is absolutely awesome about my new job, there is a huge price to pay. Sadly, it's an emotional price tag, but just like everything else I've been forced to deal with, this to shall become another part of who I am, and I will emerge stronger for it.
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