Read My Lips - the blog

I got a winner this time!

I got appointed to a case today, a drug case. I knew the person, because she and I got a bit cross-wise when she hired me with a paltry $50 payment to represent her husband on a case where they found what was supposedly a hit of LSD in his wallet, which he admitted to havin', but told me it had been in his wallet for almost 10 years. I refused to waive indictment on his behalf, even though his wife, now my new client, begged me to do so, so that he could get out on probation and help her with the bills. I could not, in good conscience, do so, what with that supposed hit of LSD bein' so old, so told her that it was best that he just sit tight until the results from the State lab came back to tell us whether there was any LSD on the little tab of paper or not. She finally got disgusted, had him request a court appointed attorney, and just about the time he got involved, the results returned with no drugs found and the charges were dropped. I was right, but no one ever came to tell me thanks for not having done what they asked, waived indictment, not worried about the testin', and allowin' him to go on probation for the next few years.

OK, so she goes before the bench today, out on bond, and tells the judge she ain't workin' and cannot afford an attorney. This had occurred several times already, and each time the DA would object to an attorney bein' appointed, as the person always admitted they were lookin' for a job, so the judge would say get a job and hire an attorney before the next court date. This time the DA says, "Judge, she ain't gonna be free for very long, so I have no objection to the appointment of an attorney." My name came up, so up I go before the bench. The judge asks if I am willin' to be appointed to represent the lady, and I tell the judge that we had some past dealin's so I was not sure if the client wanted me. The client says she has no problems. I am pretty friendly with her dad, as he is the former lawn care guy for the courthouse area, and after I had found that everything I had suggested about her husband's former legal dilemma had come to pass just as I had suspected, and why I had suggested patience in the first place, I had told her father that I had never understood why she had been so upset that I did what I thought was best in the situation. I guess she came to realize such also. So, I was appointed.

Well, this is a boondoggle. I promise. Seems a couple was pulled over for makin' a turn without signalin'. Search of their vehicle reveals some pot and some meth. Bein' the choice citizens they were, they tell the cops that they got the stuff at my client's house. The deputies run down and get a warrant and go do a search on my client's residence and find a bit of stuff. They did not find what they thought they would find, I suspect, because my client says they spent a long time tearin' into walls in a couple of the bedrooms without findin' anythin'. My client signs a really damnin' written confession admittin' to a long term drug problem. The DA is plannin' on sendin' her to his favorite drug program, a 9 month in jail program. I am goin' through the file lookin' at my client's confession, the confessions of the idiots who fingered her place and I come across the warrant.

It ain't even close to what is required. It has no information about the place to be searched and the objects to be sought. It refers to the probable cause affidavit, but the law requires that the warrant contain these items. My client's confession and all of the evidence discovered inside of her residence are subject to bein' suppressed.

I thought the look on the assistant DA's face was a bit strange when he handed me a copy of that warrant after I asked him to make me a copy of such. He must have gotten a good look at it himself.

Posted by notGeorge at January 14, 2004 09:39 PM | TrackBack