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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 9681737" data-attributes="member: 19675">That one made me think of my first solo criminal case.My defendant was charged with a drug offense- his first run-in with the law- and was trying to get into a rehab program.  To do that, he had to plead guilty.  Simple, right?  Since it was my first solo, my boss gave me a script to work with.Everything was going according to plan until the judge asked the defendant whether he had anything else to say.“Well, Your Honor, I really want to get into that rehab program, which is why I pled guilty.  But…the drug in the indictment isn’t the one I was caught with.  I had (drug), not (drug with similar name).”The ADA looked…and it was true.  That would be reversible error, which would get my client out of jail, but not into the rehab…and he really wanted into that program.So the ADA went back to his office to redraft the indictment.  When we were summoned back to court, we had a different judge.The new judge, aware of the situation, reached under the bench to grab his PDR to check the drug in the indictment was correct.  It wasn’t- the ADA had combined the first half of the name of one drug with the last half of the name of another drug, created a drug name that didn’t exist.The judge gave the ADA the hairy eyeball; my client was taken back to holding.  The ADA and I went back to his office, where I watched him redraft the indictment again, this time copying the drug letter by letter as I watched over his shoulder.  But it was now time for the lunch break.After that, we get a THIRD judge.  He is angry because a lot of his docket rescheduled to the afternoon bEcAuSe It WaS rAiNiNg, so his courtroom was jam packed and chaotic.A little person who was a veteran defense attorney strutted in, “Hey, judge!  Where am I on your docket?”“You’ll be last if you don’t shut up!”“Shutting up.”…at which point my case was called.“I heard about this case.  It’s one of the most  messed up cases I’ve seen in all my years on the bench!”  He checked his PDR; the drug name was correct.  So the case started…and my script was missing.This immediately threw me off with a bad case of nerves.  I couldn’t remember anything.  The ADA is feeding me my lines soto voce like a stage manager to a forgetful actor.  I’m leaning on the witness stand enclosure to keep from falling over. And my client, shackled and in an orange jail jumpsuit shuffled over to me and said, “You’re doing a good job!  Keep on going!”(Soooooo embarrassing.)But we DID get his guilty plea successfully entered, clearing the path to admission into the rehab program.</blockquote>

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