OUTRAGE!!!

Arizona authorities have charged an 8-year-old boy with two counts of pre-meditated murder. This is so outrageous on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin. They interrogated an 8-year-old child (whose father had just been murdered) without an attorney or parent present. He is EIGHT YEARS OLD! Even assuming he did shoot and kill these two people, an 8-year-old child does not have the capacity to commit premeditated murder. Somebody, somewhere, please stop this insanity!

Kiddie prison post coming soon . . . and that Duke thing

I took a fascinating tour of three of the state's juvenile institutions last week, and I am working on a nice, long post about it all. The short story is that they weren't as bad as I thought they would be, but still not someplace we should be sending kids except in extreme circumstances. In the meantime, check out David Feige's (of Indefensible) spot-on analysis in Slate of why disgraced Duke prosecutor Mike Nifong's disbarment is a "freakish anomaly" rather than a precedent for the criminal justice system.

A Long, Rambling Return to Blogging

Has it really been over a month since I last posted? I guess it has. In that time, I tried an interminable child sex abuse case that resulted in a split verdict of guilty of one count and not guilty of the other, which, objectively, was a huge victory, but didn't feel that way as I watched the mother of my client dissolve into tears throughout the judge's announcement of his verdict. In the middle of the trial, I went on a little vacation, which was really lovely, but now feels like forever ago, in that I am just as overwhelmed with work and exhausted as I was the day I left. Then, I tried a little misdemeanor minor in possession of alcohol case that I had no hope of winning but almost did on a completely random technicality, but none of that ended up mattering, as my client, who has been an alcoholic since he was probably about 10, was ordered shipped off to the juvenile institution for almost a year, without a single parent or family member there because none of them can be bothered to give a damn. And then, this Monday, I tried a burglary case that actually involved four felony counts because of the two cars stolen and the going back to the house a second time to steal one of them after wrecking out the other one, and the only evidence--literally, the ONLY evidence--against my client was the testimony of a co-defendant who was refusing to name the alleged third person involved (which would categorically not be enough to convict in the State of Texas, but is enough here in blue-state Washington), and the stakes couldn't have been higher after my client turned down the misdemeanor offer from the prosecutor who knew he had a weak case (aren't those always the absolute hardest offers to advise your client about???). And somehow, the star witness accomplice guy managed to perjure himself during the prosecutor's direct exam, and I forced him to admit said perjury during my cross-exam, and then he refused to answer my question as to who the third person he told the police officer he would never name and would take the fall for was, and then the judge granted my motion to strike the lying, withholding witness's testimony in its entirety, leaving the prosecuto with no evidence against my client, forcing him to dismiss with prejudice in the middle of trial. And it was an awesome, thrilling moment of victory, that I felt the need to bask in for the rest of the day, because you so rarely get such awesome, thrilling moments in this job, and then, the next day, I get dragged right back down because I have to try a case that is most likely a complete loser. And throughout all of this, I'm putting out this fire here and that fire there, handling probation violations, and motions, and kids who won't go to school, and kids who keep running away, and pleading out a bunch of other kids, including one whose mother is dead and whose dad is in prison, and he was so horribly sexually abused that he has had to have multiple surgeries to repair the physical injuries from the abuse, but whose legal guardians are so "fed up" with his inability to control his anger that the kid heard the "dad" on the phone with a friend saying he just wished the kid was dead, said "dad" also having told me that he doesn't believe the kid is properly being held accountable, and that I shouldn't even bother to tell him about the consequences of convictions becuase he knows about convictions, being a four-time convicted felon himself. Oh, and yeah, Veronica Mars got cancelled, so that was just the icing on the cake. And that, in a nutshell, is what's been happening the past month.

How's everyone else doing?

Thought for the Day

Sexual abuse cases are bad.

Sexual abuse cases with a child victim are worse.

Sexual abuse cases with a child victim and a child defendant are the worst of all.

Six-Year-Old's Temper Tantrum Lands Her in Jail

Slate has a nice little blurb, and the official police report, about a six-year-old girl arrested for two felonies and a misdemeanor for throwing a temper tantrum in class. Seriously. I have no words. Well, I have one sort-of-word: Arrrgggghhhhh!!!

These Clients We Defend

Woman of the Law is the subject of this week's Monday Musings at Public Defender Stuff. It's a great read, all-around, but one part of her comments really got me. She was having a discussion with a law professor who did capital defense work, and the issue of why she thought she might want to be a prosecutor came up. She told the professor about the abused kids she had worked with as a social worker, and how frustrated she would get with how the system dealt with them, and the professor responded, "These clients that we defend - they were your kids once. And this is where they ended up. This is what the system did for them."

Wow. So very true. So many of the kids I work with are being abused, and the system fails to protect them at every turn. And I often find myself hoping and praying that they don't end up where this professor's clients have.

My Hypothetical Criminal Record

Have you ever sat down and thought out what your hypothetical criminal record would be if all the crimes you committed in your life would have been reported to the police and prosecuted? I think about a lot more with my juvenile clients who are racking up a criminal record even before they're adults. I wonder how much harder it will be for them to get into college, to get student loans, to get a job, to get an apartment. And I wonder why the hell the state is prosecuting so many of these kids instead of just giving some of them a good, stern lecture, grounding them, or allowing for some other form of parental punishment that worked just fine on so many of us, and allowed us to put our juvenile mistakes behind us without a criminal record, and move on to be responsible, productive adults.

I may be leaving some stuff out, but here it is. My hypothetical juvenile criminal record:

Theft
Assault - domestic violence
Harassment - domestic violence
Driving without a license
Reckless driving
Criminal trespass

Now, I was pretty much a square, goody-goody as a kid, and never drank or smoked pot, so I managed to avoid those convictions. But between fights with my older brother, shoplifting, and driving like a goddamned maniac, I could have racked up plenty of charges. And you know, it's not just having a criminal record that hurts kids; it's any contact with the juvenile system. There are some kids, sure, who may need to be on probation, with the threat of detention time to get them the help they need. But many kids don't. And bringing them into the criminal justice system does them harm. I want to post more on this--the harm done just by being in the system--in future posts. But for now, I'm just thankful that it never happened to me.

Don't be shy now--feel free to leave a comment with your hypothetical criminal record.

On the Run

So, today, I had a client plead guilty to an assault charge involving a former classmate. The case was pretty old because she seemed to have had a habit of running away from home. Dad took a 5-hour bus ride to get here for her hearing today, which was great, except for the fact that he absolutely reaked of alcohol. After the plea, my client needed to talk to another prosecutor before heading back home because she is the complainant in a felony assault case where the defendant is her mother. Gee, I can't imagine why this girl keeps running away from home.

Why are Child Prostitutes Treated Like Criminals Instead of Sexual Abuse Victims?

I can't read the actual article because either the magazine's website is down right now or my internet connection sucks, but a Salon blogger on women's issues notes a New York Magazine article about how child prostitutes are treated in the U.S.A. The bottom line is that, despite the fact that these girls are legally incapable of consenting to sex, and that many of them are essentially "sex slaves," they are frequently treated like nothing more than criminals when they are arrested for prostitution. There has to be a better way.

Texas Youth Commission Scandal Grows and Grows

I'm still incredibly busy, but I couldn't go any longer without at least blogging about the growing scandal surrounding the Texas Youth Commission. The Texas Youth Commission runs all the state facilities for juvenile offenders. It's like the Board of Prisons or Department of Corrections for kids. Apparently, the conditions at the facilities are terrible, with numerous investigations underway, and the most serious charges being that adult guards were routinely coercing teenage inmates to have sex, and that those children who refused were given extended sentences. Last week, the entire board of TYC was forced to resign. In addition to coverage in Texas, the New York Times has been covering the story extensively. I haven't seen a single thing about this on the cable or network news, though. I guess they're too busy looking for lost boy scouts and speculating about what caused the death of a known drug addict to care about the systematic sexual abuse of troubled children.

Has There Been a Full Moon All Month?

It sure the hell feels like it. All month, we've been overloaded with kids who have no parents or family willing or able to care for them, who have no place to live, or who have been seriously abused at home and just can't go home. I can't remember a time since I started this job when we had so many of these cases all at once. I certainly can't remember a time we were all so busy. I apologize for not blogging in so long, but I simply haven't had any time. I barely feel like I have time to deal with what needs to be done by the next hour. Thankfully, our juvenile section is really working together well, or I don't know how we'd have been able to handle it all. One thing these past few weeks have done for me, though, is reinforce how important this job is. There truly are kids falling through the cracks of the system all the time, and sometimes, sadly, getting charged with a crime, is the only way they come to the attention of the state agencies that are supposed to be looking out for their welfare.

A Juvenile Case with a Little of Everything

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting article today about a juvenile case in Long Beach with a little of everything--race, violence, questionable eyewitness identifications, and, just like in juvenile cases in most states, no jury.

Why Don't Parents Hire Lawyers for Their Kids?

There has been a lot of talk around the public defender blogosphere regarding a recent study on the effectiveness of public defenders versus private defense attorneys, as outlined in this Op/Ed piece in the New York Times. Much of the discussion has focused on the methodology of the study and whether it is an accurate depiction of the private attorney/public defender issue. But I am much more interested in the conclusion of the opinion piece--that marginally indigent defendants (those who qualify as indigent, but who could manage, with sacrifice and assistance from family and friends, to hire a good, private attorney) who are guilty tend to rely on public defenders, while the marginally indigent innocent tend to hire private counsel.

As I was thinking about this conclusion, it struck me that, in the county where I practice, virtually none of the juveniles accused of crimes are represented by hired counsel. As juveniles, they are all presumed indigent, and entitled to be represented by my office. But, just like an adult defendant, they have the right to hire private counsel if they choose. As children, it's highly unlikely they'd be capable of retaining an attorney on their own, so if private counsel is employed, it is because their parents have chosen to pay the money to do so.

Many of my clients come from poor families, those whom I would classify as truly indigent, and not marginally indigent. But, there are quite a few that come from middle class families as well. Certainly, many of these parents could marshal the resources to hire a private attorney. And yet, except on very rare occasions, they choose not to. Why? Is it because these parents don't care about their children's cases as much as they would care about their own? That they don't think whatever consequences their child might receive from the juvenile system are severe enough to merit laying out the money for an attorney? That they don't believe in their children's innocence? Or are they simply more willing to trust a public defender to do the best job that can be done than they would be if it were themselves standing accused?

I am not a parent. But I often hear parents say that they would sacrifice their lives for their children--that they would do anything to protect their children, no matter the personal consequence. But when it comes to their children being threatened with sanctions in the criminal justice system, that doesn't seem to be the case. At least not in the county where I practice. Or, maybe it says something about the children that end up in the juvenile justice system. Is it possible that a good percentage of the kids who end up in the juvenile system have parents who aren't so self-sacrificing? That they aren't the parents who would do anything to protect their children, no matter the personal consequence?

I think I do a very good job for my clients. And I like to believe that I get them just as good results as they would get if they hired a private attorney. But, if the prevailing viewpoint in society is that public defenders don't do as good a job as hired attorneys, why do so many parents entrust their children to me, instead of doing whatever it takes to pay a private lawyer to stand up for the rights of their children?

Mommy and Daddy Issues

Some parents really suck. First, let me just say that my clients come from all sorts of families--nuclear, step, single-parent, grandparent, foster, adopted, and group homes. Some of the parents I meet are truly wonderful. And, in some cases, no matter what the parents do, the children can't seem to get it together. But, then there are the ones where the kids are good kids, but their parents just plain suck. They're drunks or drug addicts. They're always moving because they can't hold a job long enough to pay the rent anywhere. They beat them or molest them or let their live-in boyfriend do it. They don't ever have any food in the house or they let their junkie friends steal their kids' stuff. I've had cases where the police report describes my client as being his parents' "designated driver;" where the parents kicked the kid out of the home with no place to live, then had him charged with burglary when he broke into the house when they were away so we could have a place to sleep; where the mother told the police officer that her son was at fault for his father beating him because the kid intentionally got his dad drunk; where the mom left the state for a week-long trip to see an old boyfriend, and ended up having such a fun time that she didn't come back for two months, leaving her teenage kid home alone the whole time. And the worst part is that there is almost nothing I can do about it. I can talk to the kid about how to stay safe. I can call CPS, and report it myself. I can tell his probation officer to do something about it. But, in the end, I have virtually no power. I can't get the kids better parents. And so many of these kids, I'm telling you, I truly believe would never set foot in juvenile court if they had even one halfway decent parent. Just someone who loves them unconditionally, and teaches them about responsibility and empathy and consequences, and what it means to be a decent human being. What they don't need is a prosecutor talking about how they're "on the wrong track," and a judge telling them it's time to "get with it," and a lawyer telling them that she's doing everything she can when she knows it's not nearly enough.

There's Not Enough Crime in This Town

You know you're a juvenile public defender when the local news story that makes you choke on your coffee is about the police busting up a party full of drinking teenagers. According to the paper, twenty kids were cited for minor in possession! Twenty! Apparently, the police were called by neighbors who believed that the kids were up to no good. The cops knocked on the door, and were told they weren't being let in without a warrant (good on you, kids!). So, unbelievably, the police went and got a warrant in the middle of the night, and came back and busted up the party, writing out citations right and left! Now, you understand the title of this post. There is not enough crime in this town if the police have the time to get a search warrant to bust up a teenage party! Don't get me wrong. I'm not wishing for more crime here. I just, well, I just wish the cops had more important things to do. Of course, there aren't many cases here in juvenile where I have the opportunity for a full-fledged Franks hearing, so maybe I shouldn't be complaining.

I Need Some Help

Anybody have any advice on how to tell a kid that her mom doesn't want her anymore? Ever again? Because I need some help here.

Kids are Different

A few weeks ago, I was walking from the courthouse to my office with a client. He's about 14 and, like a number of my clients, he has ADHD. So, here we are, walking along, having an intelligent discussion about how he can prepare for his disposition hearing when, all of a sudden, he leaps into the air and jumps right into a huge puddle, splashing the dirty water all over me. Luckily, I was wearing black tights and houndstooth-type suit so it didn't really show up. He immediately stopped, looked at me with his big eyes, his hand over his mouth, and said, "Oops. I meant to jump over it." I just burst out laughing, called him a liar, and on we went, to the office. Can you imagine an adult client ever doing something like that? Can you imagine ever thinking that having someone jump in a puddle and splash dirty water all over your suit being one of the sweetest, most endearing moments of your job? I couldn't either, but it absolutely was. It was just one of those moments that reminded me how having kids for clients is different. Sometimes, that difference makes things worse. But more times than not, it makes things better. They have a way of crawling right into your heart and making you love them, no matter how many times they screw things up.