I think you’re understating how helpful it can be for a client if their pd strongly advocates for them. When a pd is telling me about all these mitigating circumstances and asking me to drop the jail because the perp has kids and the kids are here in court and he’s the sole bread winner and please just walk back for a second and speak to them and look one of your witnesses has two armed robbery felonies so I might actually win this case; that affects me. I like to pretend that it doesn’t but I’ve come down on offers many times after the pd goes to bat for their client. But that’s only because they don’t go to bat for every single client. Sure they ask on most every client for a lower offer but 90% of the time it’s just an ask without much substance. When they’re going to bat for the guy it makes me think that hey maybe the perp isn’t really that terrible and if I can stop from getting bothered then just drop a year of jail.
Edit: forgot to mention that the perp should lie to his pd because on the off chance the pd believes it then the pd might go to bat for him more because he’s actually innocent (rare). Because the pd’s that go to bat the same amount for every client, I don’t care about what they say at all unless it’s a true evidentiary issue.
I think I recognize the power I wield in these circumstances. However, it only exists because I work to ensure my credibility doesn’t get diluted too often.
It’s interesting hearing about your background. One of my approaches when I negotiate cases with prosecutors is that I openly admit the strengths of the government’s case. I’ve recently had a factually innocent client who was charged as an accessory to burglary, but it seemed obvious to me she had no idea what the other people were up to. When I talked to the prosecutor, I fully acknowledged “This aspect does indeed look bad for my client, but...” and I’ve always wondered whether this approach has any effect. In this particular instance I did get the case dismissed (and many others like it), but I’m curious if it’s a lesson I can continue extrapolating.
Yeah openly admitting that I have a strong case is good for credibility building. One of the most annoying things is when defense attorneys ask,
“Why is Alice is getting a sweetheart plea deal and Bob is getting jail time when they both committed the same crime and both have minimal criminal history???”
“Uh, Alice’s case is almost purely circumstantial while Bob is caught on camera, that’s the difference.”
“But they both did the same bad thing!”
“Do you understand how plea deals work?”
“[Some nonsense showing that the defense attorney indeed doesn’t know how plea deals work]”
I think you’re understating how helpful it can be for a client if their pd strongly advocates for them. When a pd is telling me about all these mitigating circumstances and asking me to drop the jail because the perp has kids and the kids are here in court and he’s the sole bread winner and please just walk back for a second and speak to them and look one of your witnesses has two armed robbery felonies so I might actually win this case; that affects me. I like to pretend that it doesn’t but I’ve come down on offers many times after the pd goes to bat for their client. But that’s only because they don’t go to bat for every single client. Sure they ask on most every client for a lower offer but 90% of the time it’s just an ask without much substance. When they’re going to bat for the guy it makes me think that hey maybe the perp isn’t really that terrible and if I can stop from getting bothered then just drop a year of jail.
Edit: forgot to mention that the perp should lie to his pd because on the off chance the pd believes it then the pd might go to bat for him more because he’s actually innocent (rare). Because the pd’s that go to bat the same amount for every client, I don’t care about what they say at all unless it’s a true evidentiary issue.
I think I recognize the power I wield in these circumstances. However, it only exists because I work to ensure my credibility doesn’t get diluted too often.
Yeah I stupidly left out the key point of my comment. Added it in edit.
It’s interesting hearing about your background. One of my approaches when I negotiate cases with prosecutors is that I openly admit the strengths of the government’s case. I’ve recently had a factually innocent client who was charged as an accessory to burglary, but it seemed obvious to me she had no idea what the other people were up to. When I talked to the prosecutor, I fully acknowledged “This aspect does indeed look bad for my client, but...” and I’ve always wondered whether this approach has any effect. In this particular instance I did get the case dismissed (and many others like it), but I’m curious if it’s a lesson I can continue extrapolating.
Yeah openly admitting that I have a strong case is good for credibility building. One of the most annoying things is when defense attorneys ask,
“Why is Alice is getting a sweetheart plea deal and Bob is getting jail time when they both committed the same crime and both have minimal criminal history???”
“Uh, Alice’s case is almost purely circumstantial while Bob is caught on camera, that’s the difference.”
“But they both did the same bad thing!”
“Do you understand how plea deals work?”
“[Some nonsense showing that the defense attorney indeed doesn’t know how plea deals work]”
Are you a prosecutor/judge?
I’m the first one