The real issue with the arrests of Mathieu, Jefferson, Hatcher & Bryant

This is 100% true. I try to tell parents all the time that their children are supposed to gain a backbone and rebel from their parents, so that they will want to leave the nest.

Many don't leave the nest ever anymore; therefore, a 20-year-old these days is still very much a child.

 

I respectfully disagree. The vast majority of my practice is devoted to work from a Public Defender's office. If I was not able to have a private practice, I would be eligible to apply for food stamps and other government assistance based on my Public Defender pay. The average caseload of felony attorneys in the office where I work is about 200. I must put in a minimum of 30 hours a week on Public Defender work. That's before I do any work that has any chance of allowing me to make enough money to pay my bills. In Louisiana, the Legislature has decided that Assistant Public Defenders should (not shall) be paid 60% of what Assistant District Attorneys in their districts are paid. This very nearly never happens.

Two weeks ago, I spent four days in a jury trial, averaging 10 hour days. Last week, I spent two days in the Public Defender's office going over discovery (police reports and the like), meeting with clients and deciding which, if any, motions to file on individual cases. I spent the other three days attending a training (totaling about 20 classroom hours, plus about six hours driving because my office couldn't afford to put me up in the hotel) that is part of the process to allow me to represent defendants accused of first degree murder in cases where the state is seeking the death penalty.

Next week, I've got court two days and in the interim must visit incarcerated clients.

Public Defenders are many things. Most are overworked. The vast majority are underpaid. Many are inexperienced. They are advocates for their clients' positions. They are counselors when those clients have unreasonable expectations. They are male. They are female. They are just about every race and nationality I can think of.

But the one thing they aren't, sir, is a joke. [/rant]

 

"Officer do you have a warrant?"

"No."

"Then I'm going to ask that you do not enter my apartment. I am going out with my friends later and I need to take a shower. You can speak with my friend Jordan here out on in the common area."

/Tyrann closes door and takes bags of weed to the bathroom and flushes it down the drain/

- or -

/Idiot friend takes backpack full of weed out the back window and is on his own/

Worst case scenario is the officer barges in which could make the evidence inadmissible in court due to unreasonable search and seizure. Perhaps I have seen too many episodes of law and order, but seems pretty dumb to let any cop in your house without a warrant and I have nothing to hide. You have to protect yourself from people in a position of authority with the potential to abuse their power.

 

Why do people repeat what others have posted just before them as their own wo acknowledging it. It's so annoying. Clearly they read it yet happens all the fn time.

Oh and this wasn't directed at mlu but it could apply I suppose.

 

Sorry, but I had a close family member and also a close friend have really bad experience with public defenders. I've heard countless other horror stories. I'm sure, as with just about everything in life, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of my experiences and yours. I just wouldn't want to put my freedom on the roll of the dice that I'll or someone I care about will get a hard-working lawyer as you seem to be. I'm also not placing the blame squarely on the public defender's themselves. I think most of the problem is the system. The very same long hours and shoddy pay scale you speak of. I do thank you for your first hand input. I wish more in the justice system were like you.

p.s. I apologize, sir, if I have offended you. That was not my aim.

 

What may be the joke though is that with that kind of workload you don't really have the proper time to prepare a case. So you come off as being a bad defender.

 

It is a tragedy when clients have bad experiences with professionals (lawyers, doctors, whatever) they have no say in selecting. Unfortunately many times bad facts make bad lawyers and the biggest failing of many Public Defenders is their inexperience and the attendant inability to manage clients' expectations. That often leads to clients unrealistically believing one thing will happen and then the exact opposite happens.

I believe more in the justice system are like me than not. A large part of the problem is perception. News media (both print and electronic), fictional TV and movies too often skewer the entire Public Defender system. An example, I love "My Cousin Vinny", but the stuttering inept Public Defender in that movie gets under my skin every time.

Just to be perfectly clear, you have nothing for which to apologize. However, I sincerely appreciate the sentiment.

Yes, that is exactly the cruel joke of the entire system. And a large part of that joke is that Public Defenders depend on courts and cops for the majority of their funds. Most of you likely don't realize that part of the traffic fines you pay goes to the Public Defenders' office. So if cops don't write tickets, we don't get paid. If the sheriff doesn't collect fines, we don't get paid. If courts don't assess and collect misdemeanor fines, we don't get paid.

Another cruel joke is that we've got to take just about everybody. We have very little say in who our clients are. Before I went to law school, I taught public school (yeah, I know, glutton for punishment) and a colleague of mine once said "If Hitler came here with the right paperwork, we'd have to take him." It's the same with the PD's office.

Ok, truly the derail is over.