Wednesday, September 17, 2003

My first client of the day was difficult.  I am at least the fourth lawyer who has appeared for him in the two cases that have been combined by the State for prosecution.  He is not charged with murder and he is not facing the death penalty.  He is, however, charged in one case with engaging in some form of sexual conduct involving his daughter and in the other with encouraging teenage girls (not of majority age) to take off their clothes and then taking photos of them.  The client's first lawyer was the public defender, followed by three appointed attorneys (including me).  Having discharged the first three for one reason or another, I am now the guy as we prepare to go to trial.  The Court granted us one week to consider the offer made by the State today.  If the offer is rejected at that time, jury selection is scheduled for the following week. The State prosecutor today was joined by two prosecutors from Russia and a Russian interpreter.  They were observing the process followed in the Connecticut Superior Court.  I joked that Russia had sent prosecutors and not defense lawyers because there were no defense lawyers in Russia.  They laughed.  They did disclose later though that prosecutors didn't have to sit for a bar exam (as I explained that concept to them), but that defense lawyers had to take and pass a test that sounded like our bar exam. I left the court to see a client at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut.  Northern is Connecticut's supermax facility and it is the prison that holds all of the inmates on the state's death row.  It is also the place where other incorrigible inmates are sent when they do bad things while they are in other prisons.  The prison holds more inmates than it should and is unlawfully beyond the capacity for which it was constructed and which is safe.  Northern is a Level 5 facility.  There are no other Level 5 facilities in Connecticut. More on this tomorrow. 9:46:44 PM    comment []

I posted 20 minutes ago, but the piece hasn't shown yet.  Sorry for the delay.  It's not me, it's them..... 9:30:43 PM    comment []

I'm trying to concentrate on work that needs to be done, but I'm distracted by Hurricane Isabel headed for the east coast.  It seems that the remnants of the storn will be hitting the New York area right when my plane is scheduled to take off for Memphis, 6 a.m. on Friday morning.  I can't get confirmation of any kind from Delta that the plane will leave on time, be delayed, be cancelled altogether.  And my travel agent couldn't seem to confirm that I could get on an earlier flight tomorrow that might push me away from New York before everything arrives.  So, I have changed plans and will be staying around instead.  Maybe that means more time for blogging. Kudos to some good blogging going around these parts.  First, you must add the Drug WarRant http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/ to your required daily reading list.  I would also recommend Leslie Talbot's "It's Not Me, It's You," http://blogs.salon.com/0002747/ another kind of rant of the humorous kind.  I have put in what I think are links to those blogs, but God knows if I have accomplished that.  Once again, still new to the process.  Read them though.  They're worthy (and not just because I say so). I will publish this and see if the links went in the way I want.  I'll share more later about an upcoming trial and spending the afternoon at Connecticut's supermax prison; a place called "Northern."  My client pointed out to me during our meeting that death row was literally right around the corner from where we sat.  More on this later. 9:14:29 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 John Walkley. Last update: 10/4/2003; 8:19:48 AM.