Maybe I am over reacting but this past Friday I witnessed something in a public courtroom that absolutely shocked me.
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I had been asked by a friend to accompany her to what she was told was a Preliminary Hearing to listen to what the DA was offering as a plea bargain for the charge against her which was the rather serious one of "Interfering with the Administration of Justice"...
Specifically she had received an appearance ticket to answer a charge of lying to a police officer about the whereabouts of her 27 year old son.
The police had come to her home while she was asleep, awakened her and told her they had reason to believe that her son whom they had a long outstanding warrant for, was in her apartment. My friend told the police that, that was not the case, that her son often stayed there but was not there at the time which was something she believed to be the truth as he was not there when she had gone to sleep.
The police asked her if it was okay if they came in and looked around and she said it would be okay if they had a warrant but they did not and they left.
My friend then dressed and went out looking for her son.
When she returned she found the police were inside her home and had arrested her son. They had told the land lord they had a search warrant and the land lord gave them access to the apartment and as a result of finding her son there they issued the appearance ticket for her on the charge above.
When she appeared in court for the appearance ticket she pleaded not guilty and was given a hearing date and told to return on that date with her attorney.
She did not have an attorney so she contacted the Public Defender's office and was assigned a representative who listened to her story and told her that he would accompany her to the Preliminary Hearing and try to persuade the DA that the charge against was un-sustainable in light of the fact that the police had conducted an illegal search of her premises.
When we went to the Preliminary Hearing, which oddly enough was scheduled for 12 noon, it turned out that what this was in reality was a once-a-month mass preliminary hearing for everyone who had been charged with any crime in the past 30 days or so.
The protocol was to sit and wait until your name was called and then go into a room with your attorney for a short discussion and then basically come out plead guilty to whatever plea was offered and then head for the very conspicuous pay window just outside the courtroom to pay the State for the Experience.
When my friend's name was finally called after more than hour and the courtroom was still about half full of others who had not been called she went with 5 others who apparently had the same lawyer into a private room for a consultation.
It turned out that when this happened her original lawyer was not there and some one else whom she had never met was handling her case.
There was no District Attorney present to negotiate with and the stand in lawyer had never heard the facts of the case. He simply told her she could either plead guilty and pay a $ 300 fine and do a year's probation or she could plead not guilty and expect to definitely do time if she was later convicted.
With only a few seconds to decide and with no one to consult with who really understood the facts of the situation she decided to take the plea.
I have some questions.
Is this now standard operating procedure when a person is represented by a Public Defender?
If it is does anyone think this constitutes an acceptable action?
Does the American Bar Association countenance this kind of activity?
This in not a backwoods country courthouse. This occurred in mid size up state city in New York State.
My sister is now a retired attorney in the same community. She won't comment on this case other than to roll her eyes.
I think the whole thing is unacceptable but if I am wrong please set me straight and I'll shut up about it.
I would love to hear from some Public Defender's out there who might be able to explain to me why this practice does not hurt the Defendant's legal position.