Good Reading

I have been following baseball this year. At about the same time that the Mariners went downhill, the Colorado Rockies took off. Not only am I rooting for them because I am from Colorado, but they are really a joy to watch. Without a doubt, the Red Sox are going to be a tough team to beat, but there is a sense of destiny attached to the Rockies season, and who doesn't like an underdog. This is an interesting article on the Rockies and how the coaches have sought out players who were not only good but had exhibited strong moral character. Maybe that is why when I watch the Red Sox, it feels like I am watching a collection of really good players, but when I watch the Rockies, it feels like I am watching a really good team.

This article is just funny, although tragically so: 6 Drunk Elephants electrocute Themselves.

Crime Strikes Again

When I am asked what my record is at trial, I have to admit that I have one 3 trials but lost 3. 50% does not really look that good, but what that figure does not reflect is the thousands of cases where the defendant plead guilty. Now, some of those people might have had a good defense and just plead guilty because they would rather not spend the weekend in jail or they want to spend the weekend in jail so they can get a warm meal. On the other-hand, the majority of people who are charged of crime are guilty of committing those crimes, such that most of what a prosecutor does is process paperwork for for people to plead guilty. That does not mean that there is not a whole lot of give in take in that game. Lots of people have gotten more time than they had hoped, because I just was not going to buy their excuse for why they were shoplifting with their kids (for example.) On the other-hand, a prosecutor's primary duty is to do justice, so I have gone easy on people who were stealing a ham sandwich because they were hungry.

But that was all really just a preamble to tell you that in my life, crime seems to be winning. Less than a week after my car window was smashed in and my law school study guides were stolen, I went to my car and found my car stereo missing. I can only imagine that the next time I will go out to my car and the whole care will be missing. I don't think it was the same people in the stereo theft as the smash and grab. It was a much more sophisticated job. There was no mess. They were able to get in my locked car, easily remove the stereo without any signs of distress or destruction and closed the car back up the way it was. They even re-locked the doors on the way out. No wires were cut and except for the missing stereo, there was no sign that anyone was in my car (one of the keyholes looks a bit pushed in, which may have been the result of shaved keys jammed in the lock.) The irony is that I had parked my car near the rental office because there is more light there, but the officer who came to investigate told me that I had just given them more light to do their work.

From my conversation with him, these kind of crimes are rampant and growing. Trying to see this all in a positive light, higher crime means more cops, which means more prosecutors, which means maybe there will be a job for me when I get out of school. Then I can get a regular paycheck and a new stereo.

Educated Thief

When I took the dogs for a walk on Tuesday morning, I was stopped by a neighbor who had just had his car window smashed in and his sub woofer stolen. I thought, "that sucks" and told him to call the police. As I walked on, I thought: "maybe I should check my car."

There it was with the back rear passenger window smashed out. I couldn't imagine what they would want with my car, but then I remembered the book back I kept in the back seat with law school study guides and notes/outlines passed on to me from other students . It was a smash and grab operation and they probably thought they might get lucky and find a computer or some bank statements, but I imagine there was some disappointment when they looked inside and just found a bunch of business entities notes. I am not too upset about loosing the books. The book on trial techniques that was in the bag may come in handy for the thief in the future. He will probably not get caught for this, but if he is doing drugs and stealing to pay for it, there is a very good chance he will eventually get caught for something (I am not being sexist here, but in my 5 months at the prosecutor's office, I have yet to see a woman in court for a vehicle prowl.)

So $162 dollars later and after a bunch of hassle, my car window is replaced and I have removed all extraneous stuff from my car. If only they knew how much more valuable those books are at law school than at a pawn shop.

Juries will do strange things

I lost a jury trial case last week. When I explain the facts to you you will wonder how it is possible to loose. A man, in a drug induced state, walks into a 91 year old womans house in the middle of the afternoon while she is taking a nap. He claimed at trial that he doesn't remember doing any of this, but after going into her house, he finds her bathroom, takes out his dentures (meth causes people to loose their teeth) and takes a crap on her toilet. When the 91 year old woman wakes up, she finds him passed out on her toilet with his pants around his knees.

How could he not be found guilty of Criminal Trespass? All I can say is that juries do strange things. When talking with them afterwards, they mentioned that we hadn't proved the case "beyond a shadow of a doubt." I guess we didn't discuss reasonable doubt well enough, but I am positive there was not a single mention of "shadow of a doubt" at trial or in the jury instructions. I guess I need to do a better job of explaining reasonable doubt.

I think the jury system is an amazing system of justice and criminal law gives defendants the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes it feels like it just does not work. That is why civil lawyers are so hesitant to take their cases to trial, and it is a good lesson to learn early on in my career.