In the beginning...

Not only have I never had a blog before -- I have never even really read anyone's blog. Sure, I have clicked a link somewhere that took me to someone's blog entry before, but I have really only read the entry I was directed to. I have never sat down and really read anyone's blog. Nor have I followed one.

But I do get the gist of what is supposed to go on. I talk about what is going on in my life. In this case, it is a blog with a theme -- a legal theme. So I will be blogging about my experience in the legal world.

I am an attorney. More specifically, I am a criminal defense attorney. As you might imagine, I am going to be changing a lot of names on here to protect the guilty. After all, that is really what my job is, isn't it? I protect the guilty. Oh, sure, every once in a while someone is actually innocent and I get to feel extra good about getting their case dismissed or having them found not guilty. But in general, they are guilty.

I am in court nearly everyday. My days are made up of going to court, meeting with clients, and returning phone calls. A lot less time goes into things like the drafting of motions than you might think.

Today I had a client who was charged with a DWI. He was convicted at the lower court, and I appealed the case to try to get him a more favorable judgment. In the lower court, Judge Cribble gave my client the absolute maximum that the law would allow. It was only my client's second conviction for DWI, and it is fair to say that people don't usually get the maximum sentence for their second conviction. Also, my client's vehicle was seized at the time of arrest. So not only is he looking at all this prison time, he also lost a vehicle that he had already paid 15,000 dollars for.

So why, my non-existent readers might ask, did my client get the maximum if he already lost 15K and has only one prior conviction? Good question. Judge Cribble is not particularly fond of Hispanics. Just the other day there was a Hispanic man in front of him and Cribble began the proceedings with, "So, do you speak English today?" It is not a pleasant situation for Hispanics to find themselves in. I have had more than one case that Cribble went overboard on a Hispanic. So I am hoping that the Judge at the higher court will be able to do a bit better for my client, Jose.

Unfortunately for me and for Jose, there was no one at court who spoke Spanish. I have a translator who works for me, but she was unavailable. The Court typically does not have anyone. So his case was continued to tomorrow for sentencing. My ultimate goal for Jose would be that he get an amount of jail time that is small enough to allow him to serve the time on weekends. We shall find out whether Jose has any suerte in the morning.