Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

One of my non-lawyer friends said something very funny the other day, which I needed to share:

This weekend, I was telling my friend how I had just recently gotten assigned to an attempted first degree murder case.  I said that I'd already done a first degree murder case in February and now I had an attempted murder case in the same year.  My friend's response was, "So, is that like hitting for the cycle* in a lawyer's world?"



*"Hitting for the cycle" is a baseball term that refers to a situation in which a player hits a single, double, triple, and a home run all in the same game.

The "Public Defender" title

So, within the last year or so, the court in one of the counties where I work has put together a panel of volunteer attorneys that are willing to help out by covering low-level misdemeanor cases.  This is to help alleviate some of the less serious cases that are usually assigned to the public defenders.  The volunteer attorneys step in and take on some of these misdemeanors, meaning that the public defenders have fewer cases.  So, it's basically a panel of volunteer defense attorneys that handle cases for public-defender eligible clients to help out the PD's office. 


A few of these panel attorneys call themselves "volunteer public defenders."  This bothers me. It bothers me for a few reasons.  

Best. Video. Ever

This video is hilarious.  I laughed until I cried.  It's got an excessive amount of swearing, but if you've ever owned a cat, it very aptly describes what cats are like.  Seriously, hilarious.

Excellent Monday

Well, as far as Mondays go, this one was pretty good.  And for those of you who aren't from Minnesota, when a Minnesotan says something is "pretty good," that means it's excellent.  If something is actually pretty good, then we will say it was "not bad."  

Today started off with a jury trial that I knew was not going to go to trial.  One, because someone else was going to trial and two, because my client had indicated that he wasn't really into having a trial if it could be avoided.  So, I had already talked to the prosecutor about giving my client a continuance for dismissal on his case, which he agreed to.  So, my client's felony case is now a continuance for dismissal, which is awesome.  Especially awesome because that prevents him from getting in trouble with immigration courts because, as I have found out since Padilla, everything gets you deported whether you are here legally or illegally.  Even two petty misdemeanor shoplifting tickets can be enough to get you deported.  It's a bit extreme.  So, the continuance helps my client out with that, too. 

Then, at my next hearing for the day, where my client had a pretty serious drug charge, I managed to get her bail reduced by 90%--a rare feat in most of my cases.  I was pretty surprised that the court went ahead and reduced the bail.  I had prepared my client to not be surprised if they found themselves with the same bail or such a slight reduction that it made no difference.  So when the bail was reduced that significantly, I was pretty surprised and my client was understandably pretty happy. 

My last hearing of the day was a misdemeanor.  It's a rather classic situation:  the allegations are that my client caught their partner with someone else, so they alleged beat the someone else up.  It's too bad that "they deserved it" isn't a defense sometimes, you know?  But, my client had no criminal history and the allegations lined up for some pretty awesome facts for us at trial, since I think I'd have a good shot at getting at least one person on our side with that kind of scenario.  So, I asked the prosecutor if he'd go for a continuance for dismissal and--bam!--he did!  Two for two in one day on the continuances for dismissal!  So, again my client was very happy about the outcome.

Oh, yeah, and I have hot new hair since I dyed it this weekend.  So, I was looking supa-fly.  But, that's pretty much a given. 

So, overall, a pretty sweet Monday.  

Sidenote--it's come to my attention that, given my extreme dislike for regular pants (sooo uncomfortable and constricting!!), I will at some point in time need to break down and buy myself a pair of pajama jeans.  Shameful?? Maybe a bit.  But, if they really do look like real jeans, that would make them less shameful than the Snuggie, (of which I own three!!) since it wouldn't be immediately apparent that it was that thing from TV.  It'll happen eventually.  When it does, I'll be sure to let you all know if they are as magical as they seem.