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Last Friday, an older attorney came into the office with the print out of his client's case. He threw it on my desk and glared at me. I saw a warrant had been issued for his client's arrest for failure to appear at his court date last month. A new charge of failing to appear now was added to the client's original charge.
I asked him what he needed from me.
He then threw a dismissal order on my desk - the original dismissal order, mind you, that the prosecutor had given him to give to the judge last month. That is the usual procedure during our informal plea bargaining: the defense works something out with the prosecutor in the court room and then takes the written agreement up to the judge (who happens to always be at the bench in that same court room on those days) to have the judge approve and sign it. There even is a statement on the plea bargain form that states the deal is not finished and is not valid unless the judge signs it. Once the judge signs it, the court clerk enters the agreement in the record and the defense gets a copy for its records. This yahoo had made the agreement of dismissal with the prosecutor, put it in his briefcase, and walked out. Now his client was in trouble as there is no record of anything happening that day.
When I pointed out the statement on the form and told him he should have had the judge sign the agreement that day, this fool started to bluster and blamed the prosecutor for not walking him up to the judge personally or the baliff for not stopping him when he left the courtroom or the clerk for not noticing that the record of the case had been pulled but no action had happened. Everyone was to blame for what happened but him.
Had he been nice and acknowledged that he screwed up, there was a lot my office could have done to get the warrant pulled, the failure to appear discharged and the dismissal entered. Anyone can have a brain fart and forget about something - even something important. Since he was a jerk, however, I sent him to the judge who told him to work out a new agreement with the prosecutor as to the dismissal and then she would let the defendant off on the failure to appear with just a fine of $150 plus court costs. The attorney could take up how to reimburse his client for the $200 or so total on his own time.
I asked him what he needed from me.
He then threw a dismissal order on my desk - the original dismissal order, mind you, that the prosecutor had given him to give to the judge last month. That is the usual procedure during our informal plea bargaining: the defense works something out with the prosecutor in the court room and then takes the written agreement up to the judge (who happens to always be at the bench in that same court room on those days) to have the judge approve and sign it. There even is a statement on the plea bargain form that states the deal is not finished and is not valid unless the judge signs it. Once the judge signs it, the court clerk enters the agreement in the record and the defense gets a copy for its records. This yahoo had made the agreement of dismissal with the prosecutor, put it in his briefcase, and walked out. Now his client was in trouble as there is no record of anything happening that day.
When I pointed out the statement on the form and told him he should have had the judge sign the agreement that day, this fool started to bluster and blamed the prosecutor for not walking him up to the judge personally or the baliff for not stopping him when he left the courtroom or the clerk for not noticing that the record of the case had been pulled but no action had happened. Everyone was to blame for what happened but him.
Had he been nice and acknowledged that he screwed up, there was a lot my office could have done to get the warrant pulled, the failure to appear discharged and the dismissal entered. Anyone can have a brain fart and forget about something - even something important. Since he was a jerk, however, I sent him to the judge who told him to work out a new agreement with the prosecutor as to the dismissal and then she would let the defendant off on the failure to appear with just a fine of $150 plus court costs. The attorney could take up how to reimburse his client for the $200 or so total on his own time.
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