No Jacket Required

So I traversed to a neighboring county to handle a couple of cases today. Somehow I forgot my jacket. I have never done this before. One time I forgot a tie, but I left my office knowing I needed a tie. This time I was in the parking lot of the courthouse and I realized that I didn't have my jacket. I thought to myself, "Maybe no one will even notice that I am not wearing a jacket. Surely, plenty of other people in the courthouse don't wear jackets."

As soon as I entered the courtroom other lawyers looked at me and started pointing and laughing. So much for the "not even notice" nonsense. Another lawyer who was just about finished with his business told me I could wear his jacket when he was through. So I waited. And I wore his jacket. A little blue on black action never hurt anyone, did it?

Ethel Diddi is around 68 or so years old. She has a son who is a piece of crap. He thinks he is some big shot, but he really just runs a small restaurant and sells coke out of it. Well, crack, really. He has a couple of poker machines in the back, too. He also actually has people who work in his restaurant in exchange for being allowed to sleep in the storage shed behind the restaurant. I wish I were making that part up. So, in short, the son is a total winner.

I met the son years ago when his daughter -- Ethel's granddaughter -- was in some minor trouble with the law. I represented her, and ever since then he has made me Tommy Hagen to his Don Corleone. As if. The daughter is really a piece of work. She herself had a daughter (Corleone's granddaughter and Ethel's great-granddaughter). She went around living in crack houses and doing her thing. One time she got busted in one of them with her daughter. Understandably, the State took her child from her. The State kept it all in the family, though, and awarded custody to Ethel.

So Ethel is the only great-grandmother I know of who has custody of a baby. She is poor. She also is in poor health. Her condition calls for her to have to buy diapers not only for the baby, but for herself, too. One day Ethel found herself without adult diapers and without money. She can't afford to pay anyone to watch the baby, so she has to bring the baby wherever she goes. She brought the baby to the grocery store to shoplift some adult diapers. She got caught. Not only did she get charged with shoplifting, but they also charged her with child abuse as she was committing a crime while having the child with her.

Would the real Don Corleone allow his mother to find herself in a position where she needs to steal diapers for herself? I am guessing "no."

The State failed to get the subpoena served on the employee of the grocery store. It is looking likely that the case will be dismissed. If it is not, then the State will likely take the child from Ethel. On the plus side, it is nice to find myself in a position where I feel that I really am helping someone in need.