The Man In White...

Thought I'd share another photo from the shoot, a funny one. Wasn't posing here, just playing a little guitar while the photographer got the light and the angle etc. I guess when I play up on the neck I have a tendency to bite my lip. Looks pretty funny. Wonder if that's what it looks like in performance, too.

Been busy in the practice lately. A very good month, I'm heading toward $12,000 and might make it to $14,000 if the County of Humboldt ponies up the $2k they owe me for a big felony case I was appointed on. I'm trying to get that one off the ground but I ended up filing another continuance motion today because my expert bugged out on me and the replacement hasn't called me yet. I hate to go over to the man's office but sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes to make the case.

I opened my little Eureka outpost this week. A small office in Old Town which is costing $260 per month. I rented it becuase I keep getting calls from people who want a consultation but don't want to travel "all the way" to McKinleyville. It's a 15 minute drive. 15 minutes! We used to drive further than that in LA just to get a mochachino.

It also helps when I have to talk to clients going through hearings in the courthouse and need some privacy. The courthouse cafeteria is a notoriously bad place to talk to clients. In fact--if you don't mind a war story--I had an incident when I was a young Public Defender where I was preparing a client for his testimony at trial in the cafeteria. When we walked into the room I said "Is anyone here who works for the DA's Office? Because I need to talk to my client." NO one said a word. WE went to the back and tried to talk low. Well, turns out at the table next to us were three DA investigators, who promptly went back to their office and lied their asses off about what I'd told the client. (I said, "tell the truth," but they heard, "here's what I want you to say, don't worry about the truth.")

Well, the puppy DA handling the case--she was a loaner from a big law firm--moved to reopen her case so she could call these investigators to the stand. I objected, asked for their names and reports. Puppy DA said she didn't have to give them over. I referred her to 1054 of the Penal Code and the judge--poor woman had just been elevated to the bench and this was her first trial--ordered (reluctantly) the DA to give me the reports. When I read them my blood boiled. The DA investigators had twisted things I'd said to make it look like I was suborning perjury when, in fact, I was telling the client to be careful of the terms he was using, reminding him not to guess if he didn't know the facts, and reminding him that if he told the truth he wouldn't have to worry about what he'd said before.

I worked all weekend researching this, as it didn't sit right with me. Sure enough, I found a case called People v. Moore that said that if a DA investigator purposely listens in on a conversation between the attorney and the client, the case should be dismissed because of misconduct! I prepped the motion over the weekend (this was long before Adam was born, so I used to have time to do such frivolity on the weekends) and marched into court Monday AM and moved to dismiss. Poor beginner judge dodged that bullet by ruling that the DA didn't tell the investigators to listen in, so it wasn't misconduct, but she also would not allow the DA investigators to lie about me on the stand.

Oh, and I won that case. As well I should have. Anyway, the beginner judge dodged an appellate thunderbolt when I won. Gee, she never thanked me.

Anyway, such delightful experiences have taught me never to have serious conversations in public with my client. So I end up renting a little office in Eureka to talk to them in private. I've already used it this week. Looks like it's going to be a useful addition.

That, and the blisters on my hands from putting together the bookshelf are starting to go away.