My second day at court was kinda fun today. I'm the only one I know of who feels this way, but I kinda like testifying at court. I enjoy the little mental fencing between myself and the defense attorney with the whole case on the line. This was a DWI case. It was an unusual circumstance because there were no sobriety tests (he refused them all) and I didn't have a good witness to even put the suspect behind the wheel. However, I had a good interrogation of the suspect on video where he admitted to driving the car and I caught him in several inconsistencies in his story. I have a particularly good interrogation technique. Any way, the whole case hung on my interrogation and my testimony on the stand. I know my shit and I'm familiar with the usual bag of tricks the defense attorneys generally throw at me.
After we were done, all the attorneys from the county prosecutor's office kept raving about how well I did on the stand. I always get this kind of reaction from prosecuting attorneys the first time they see me testify. It feels good to be flattered and let my head swell for a while.
They had offered the defendant a one year probation sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, and he turned it down and asked for a jury trial. I love that moment about five minutes into cross examination where the defense attorney starts to realize that they aren't going to be able to trip me up and I can see the look of defeat in their face...It's like a boxer who fights out of his weight class, gets hit the first couple of times and realizes he's in over his head.
Part of me definitely feels sorry for the defendant though. He turned down that straight probation offer and instead he got 15 days in jail, day for day (no time off for good behavior) as a condition of a longer probationary period. It's uncommon for someone to get jail time like this on a first time DWI. I can't believe he didn't just take the in initial offer. I hate doing DWIs but I love testifying. I only do DWIs when I pretty much have to. I'm not nearly as heartless as I pretend to be.
OK I know this is boring to 99% of the world and I'm being a braggart. But hey! If I had to give up two of my days off for this, I should at least get to bore people and be a bit immodest.
After we were done, all the attorneys from the county prosecutor's office kept raving about how well I did on the stand. I always get this kind of reaction from prosecuting attorneys the first time they see me testify. It feels good to be flattered and let my head swell for a while.
They had offered the defendant a one year probation sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, and he turned it down and asked for a jury trial. I love that moment about five minutes into cross examination where the defense attorney starts to realize that they aren't going to be able to trip me up and I can see the look of defeat in their face...It's like a boxer who fights out of his weight class, gets hit the first couple of times and realizes he's in over his head.
Part of me definitely feels sorry for the defendant though. He turned down that straight probation offer and instead he got 15 days in jail, day for day (no time off for good behavior) as a condition of a longer probationary period. It's uncommon for someone to get jail time like this on a first time DWI. I can't believe he didn't just take the in initial offer. I hate doing DWIs but I love testifying. I only do DWIs when I pretty much have to. I'm not nearly as heartless as I pretend to be.
OK I know this is boring to 99% of the world and I'm being a braggart. But hey! If I had to give up two of my days off for this, I should at least get to bore people and be a bit immodest.
My favorite case was of this Iranian born deaf woman who married a hard of hearing man from a neighboring country. He spent 20 years severely beating her, causing miscarraiges and all sorts of things. Together they had three children.
By the time I met her she had left him and they had been in litigation for at least a year or more. Her own lawyers thoughts she was nuts. She had lost her home and her children just to save herself...she was now in court for visitation. It looked hopeless.
When I stepped onto the scene...I met with her lawyers and with the children's lawyer...and explained to them what it is like to be deaf, the cultural differences she had both as an Iranian and as a deaf woman. Cleared up that she was indeed NOT nuts, but when she saw her lawyer talking to her ex-husband (because he was representing himself in some matter), how it would look that everyone was conspiring against her. And no, the lawyers had never used an interpreter with her... I met with the law guardian and explained how the children also have cultural differences being children of deaf adults. Etc...
Long story short...I saved that woman's life. She received equal visitation rights and when her youngest child reaches 18 the house will be sold and she will receive half of the money from the sale.
I also met with her as a counselor...and helped her deal with the emotional strain and trauma of being so severely beaten for so many years. To see the changes that woman made, with a little help from me...I swear, it was one of the most satisfying moments of my life.
Thinking about it now makes my head swell a little bit too and that's ok. I worked my ass off for that woman.
So anyway, I'm not bored by your work stories so go ahead and keep sharing them! (and i'll keep boring you with mine!)