Read My Lips - the blog

Another round and par for the course

I just had a client's mother call me. She said that her son had finally been indicted on the case on which I am appointed to represent him . It has to do with some explosives discovered in the trunk of an abandoned car. I was not surprised about the indictment, as I had thought he had been indicted on the previous time such was scheduled to be heard by the Grand Jury, and was surprised to learn it had not been reached. She then asked "How can they hold him when he didn't have anything to do with the matter?" I told her that he had previously provided me with his denial of knowledge and I suggested that he cooperate with the investigation so as to provide what information he did and he declined. I asked if if he would be willing to take a polygraph regarding the extent of his knowledge of the matter and he again declined. The information in the case file shows that two of the people who have admitted their involvement with stashing the explosives in the trunk of the car have identified him as a party to the offense, as well as being identified by a neutral party who stated he remembered someone resemblin' my client who was in the area with the other two men.

When my client's mother again reiterated that her son was being held with no evidence, I said, "You say that he was not involved and he says he was not involved but the witnesses say differently," and she just hung up on me.

I sometimes wonder what people expect of me. Do they think that attorneys have this magic wand that they can wave and all someone's troubles go away? I think the evidence against my client is very scanty and have discussed such with the District Attorneys' Office which just shrugged. They have him and he ain't goin' nowhere, and they got enough evidence in their file to believe he was involved. I suspect they will never agree to dismiss the case until forced to present their case to a jury. I am indeed prepared to take this matter before a jury at the earliest opportunity and let let the jury decide the facts of this matter.

Attorneys learn a basic premise in law school. You cannot change the law and you cannot change the facts. My client is eligible for bond, and the bond amount is reasonable, so the thing that needs to be done is that she and her family post bond to free the young man while this case is pendin' goin' to trial. Of course, I have told her that previously, more than once. She doesn't have any money to bond him out. I don't have a magic wand. I again wonder why I ever chose this profession.