Clients.....part deux

Ok, so there are clients and there are clients!  With kids, it is either the delinquents in detention who desperately want you to get them out and are willing to lie or do anything to get out.  That may or may not be a good idea since when they are out...they tend to do "stupid" or criminal things that get them right back in detention.  Other kids have horrible things happen to them and although they are "damaged", they still can have child-like glee about deciding whether or not their new name (on their adoption birth certificate) should be "Godzilla" or not (true story).

Adults who have had their kids taken away fall into two categories generally.  The "I'm pissed off at CPS but I'll do anything to get my kids back" and the "I'm pissed at CPS and they can't tell me what to do, they're my effing kids".  The second ones are the kind that generally won't stop smoking dope or wanting to beat their kids when they do something wrong (and telling their CPS therapist that).  Getting pregnant by the same jerk who beat them up before is generally "frowned upon in this establishment" and yet, they ask with child-like confusion, "could this hurt my case?".  I so badly want to say, "Gee, you think?" but then that would be the problem...they don't think.

So, usually they don't get this button....

Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em....

My Favorite Client?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Oh, for the days when I represented the "State of Arizona" as a criminal prosecutor.....I didn't have needy clients who called to "chat" with me and repeated the same things over and over...and over.  I didn't have clients who thought that I had all the answers (yeah, don't know HOW they ever thought that!).  I didn't have clients who called to leave lengthy messages on the weekend and then got upset when I didn't call them first thing in the morning.  I didn't have clients who disappear on me and then leave me answering to the judge, "no, Your Honor, he/she didn't tell me that they were leaving the state / country (fill in the blank)"...even if they did tell me, I couldn't tell the judge anyway but judges don't like to be reminded that there is such a thing as attorney / client relationship and that I have to refuse to answer if it would violate that right.  They think that the "black dress" entitles them to answers.  I didn't have clients who didn't do anything that CPS told them to do and are honestly surprised that they aren't getting their kids back.  Bleh!

However, as I remember, I did have victims that called me all the time and thought that I could and would send the S.O.B. to prison for life (when I had already explained that life in prison wasn't an option for a simple burglary and neither was the death penalty).  I did have cops who called to gripe that I hadn't issued their case (when it was a crappy case that a defense attorney could win blindfolded).  I did have witnesses disappear on me and leave me to explain to the judge why the "almighty State" couldn't find them...

S.O.S., different address...sigh

Word of Warning....

     Lying to your Lawyer is BAD!!!!







  Ok, I shouldn't have to say this but....again, lying to your lawyer does nothing for you as a client.  Your lawyer is only as good as the information that you give to him or her.  If you lie to your lawyer and your lawyer tries (as is their duty) to zealously represent you and then gets "surprised" by information provided by another party, it's not good.  It makes your lawyer look stupid or naive (to be kind) and it "pisses off" said lawyer cuz there ain't nothing that makes a lawyer madder than to "look stupid".  It is bad enough when lawyers look stupid and they really didn't think through that last comment but to look stupid when the lawyer honestly thought that he or she had a "righteous" argument, well....that just irritates said lawyer!

Enough said!!

Judge Rant....appropriate...and NOT!

Judge with a temper!!



    Ok, so I start this blog with the comment that....my client is NOT perfect nor has she done what she was supposed to have done.  Having said that, I think that the judge today was WAY out of line.  Not that he shouldn't have laid down the law to my client in the most stringent, almost nasty way that he did (and don't get me wrong, he was nasty).  The main reason that I believe that the judge was WAY out of line was due to the "touchy" issues involved in the case.  There are allegations (and I say allegations because we didn't have a trial to see whether or not the "boyfriend molested" the daughter because the mother didn't want to put the daughter through that.  She had concerns due to the dates alleged and the locations (because they didn't live there when the molests were alleged to have occurred) but she didn't want the daughter subjected to "withering cross" (and I hope I could have done a withering cross if need be).  So...the case was "resolved" as far as a dependency goes in April.  She (the mother) supposedly went to counseling and non-offending parent classes thereafter (but I don't know about it nor do I have any proof that she did).  In June/July, there is a court hearing and it would appear that the mother hasn't gone to classes and/or is telling groups and therapists that she doesn't believe her daughter so Judge is understandably unhappy.

Now, we are at today's hearing....from July until today, there are been several issues with the case.  First, the mother has been tasked at work with not only work but also classes since the work is about to morph into something WAY bigger.  Needless to say, Mom has been working 7 days a week more than 7 hours a day.  Not much time to do classes, therapy, or group.   Additionally, she has been very vocal about her daughters getting into therapy when she perceives that they haven't to this point.  Vocal clients are not favored by the Department.  So, it would appear that I have some things to argue about...but wait, there is the hearing!   The girls are present and through their attorney, they request more visits with mom, unsupervised and overnights and really....they want to go home.  Before I can talk to the judge about what is going on with my client, the Judge launches into his tirade....justifying it by saying that the girls are "old enough" to understand what is going on.  Ordinarily, I would agree that the girls would be old enough to 'not be talked down to' but what he does is WAY more than 'not talk down to them'.  The whole thing is worsened by the fact that there is an eight year old in the courtroom as well (which I truly believe the Judge forgot about).  What followed was a TIRADE of magnificent proportions!  The end result....everyone cried (mom and kids) and the teenagers left the courtroom mid-tirade in tears!

Did the mother need a tirade?  Probably....Did the teenagers need to hear it...as DELIVERED?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!  Did the eight year old need to hear it?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Should the judge have reconsidered and reworded it given his audience...or...excused the teenagers and the eight year old...ABSOLUTELY!!!!

The system is broken and I don't know how to fix it!  Are there parents and children who need services?  Yes!  Are there parents and children who don't belong together....sadly, yes!   Are there parents and children who deserve the recognition of the court and parties for "doing the best they can despite the 'odds'"?  ABSOLUTELY!

Plea for Families!

Why can't we love our children and raise them the way they should be raised??













    Ok, I am taking a break (sort of) from my blogging about my cases and adventures in court.  I have been dealing with the death of my mother and going through her stuff in the house I grew up in.  I realize (or I should say "re-realize") what a wonderful mother she was!  She saved EVERYTHING that her children EVER gave her and then she also saved EVERYTHING her grandchildren EVER gave her!  Even my kids looked at some of the scribbles and wondered why Grandma would save that.  My answer was invariably "because you gave it to her and she treasured it."  I remember the times that I was not getting along with her as a hormonal teenage girl and I would complain to my friends about her.  My friends, without exception, would roll their eyes and tell me that they would kill to have a mom like mine and I should be glad I had her as my mom (and I was VERY MUCH SO).  I remember joking with my parents (back more than 20...um...or so...years ago) that they had "ruined my life" because they were 1) still married to each other; and 2) very happily so.  Little did I realize how prophetic that joke would be....

    Now, being married to the father of your child(ren) is rare.  Being married to the father of your children for an extended period of time is rarer.  Being happily married to that same person is even more rare.  That is plain PATHETIC!!!  However, that is the reason that I will probably always have a contract at Juvenile Court!  Women and men randomly have sex and don't even consider whether or not a child will result from that some seven minutes of fun.  Nor do they consider whether or not they even WANT to have a child with that person nor whether or not that person is someone worthy that the child who will ultimately look up to as a role model is worthy of that respect.  And those.....are the people who are peopling this planet!  These are the people who are "raising" (and I use that term VERY LOOSELY) the next generation.  They are creating a vicious circle of people who are raised without love and no basis in the basic human values and those people who then go out and make bad decisions about having kids....and so on....

   I was privileged to be raised by two wonderful people who weren't perfect but they instilled the appropriate human values and loved me despite my hormonal teenage rants.  I will miss my parents (more than I can say and the pain of this second loss is excruciating) but I was very blessed.  I wish everyone was equally as blessed but sadly...not so much!  

Spinning your wheels....or the unwinnable trial

   You know that there is such a thing as "the Perfect Storm"?  We all know the phrase concerning "lightning striking twice" but this picture should depict the trial I'm currently in...

It is a severance trial which means that the State is trying to permanently take away someone's parental rights, which they have to do by proving one of their alleged grounds by "clear and convincing evidence" and then by proving "by a preponderance of the evidence" that it is in the child's best interests.  This case starts out with a father who has a drug problem.  However, to his credit, he engages in services (which the mother does not) and he does so well that the State is very close to returning his daughter to him permanently.  Then, inexplicably, he tests positive for PCP (who does that now days?).  Then he gets arrested for beating up his girlfriend....again.  Now, we are on the severance track.  He tests positive for alcohol on at least three occasions and it is not looking good.  

At the trial, when the State calls him as a witness, he testifies that 1) he snorted bath salts with the intent of getting high (I KNOW, who ever thought that snorting bath salts would get one high) on two occasions and that 2) he NEVER knew he wasn't supposed to drink and 3) his case worker hates him.  I'll give him credit for his case worker hating him (she is an unpleasant person and I'm not sure I like her either)...but really, what the h*#! am I supposed to do with the bath salts issue and the alcohol.  Laughably, the bath salts, which preliminarily tested positive for PCP, didn't end up having PCP in them...but really, he still admitted to snorting something STUPID with the intent to get high.

How, exactly am I going to defuse this and pull off a win?  Answer:  I'm not.  I am between the lightning and the tornado with nowhere to go....(sigh, not a fun position)

Kids need to understand that it ISN'T their fault!!!

D@*n Parents!  Why can't there be a licensing requirement prior to having kids?

Ok, this is a radical concept!  People should all be temporarily sterilized and then, when they 1) get married and 2) are financially stable, they decide that they want kids....they have to take a test and prove that they can capably parent (ok, so no one is born capable) but they should at least be able to prove that they are mentally and emotionally stable so that they won't a) physically or b) mentally or c) emotionally abuse their kids.  If they can't pass the test, no kids!!  I have seen too many kids who had no parent(s) because one of the parents was either in prison, deported, or dead or disappeared.  Even when they had a parent, that parent was too focused on the "good" kid and ignored the kid who wasn't perfect and perhaps needed some more attention to be a good kid.

Why the rant?  Because I represent a kid...a good kid in most senses of the word, in that he is very personable, bright, etc.  His issues:  he was sexually abused by a family member when he was very young and is having issues with that (imagine that!  Who wouldn't??). In  order to compensate, he smokes marijuana.  This affects his school work (I'm stunned!). He is also a behavioral problem because he is very angry about the abuse he suffered (again, I'm stunned!  I would be too.).  Finally, his mother has decided that he is NOT a good kid and she is tired of missing work and otherwise having to "parent him" so she informed him that she was, in essence, not going to be his mother any more.  She said that she was giving up on him.  She told him this when he was sitting in detention.  I have no idea that he has been told this until I go into court and hear it from the Probation officer (who is equally broken up about this) and I have a hard time maintaining composure.  The kid has locked his emotions inside for the moment.

Later, I find out that he has carved the words "Stoner" into the skin of his chest rather than deal with his emotions.  Over the next six days, he tried to commit suicide three times in detention.  He ends up committed to a juvenile behavioral health facility for eight days and then assigned to a temporary facility while the "powers that be" try to figure out what is best for him.  Meanwhile, one hand fights the other as they try to find something to help him.

God help him because I don't think the system is going to!

ADDENDUM:  Dated 9-21-11

So, we had a court hearing yesterday because the kid, who had run from a group home after being released from a locked mental health facility, was arrested.  I was informed that "there were problems" with the kid and that I needed to see the bailiff prior to the hearing.  I spoke to the bailiff who told me that my kid had attempted suicide in detention twice since last night and tried to escape 3 times.  He was currently so combative that it was going to take THREE deputies to bring him into the court room.  It took some 20 minutes to get him into the court room and when he came in...I almost didn't recognize him.  His hair had grown out (and he was so careful about his appearance).  He was shackled like an animal and he was shaking and talking to himself angrily.  I was almost in tears at the sight of him.  He was clearly not even competent.  I attempted to talk to him but it was very difficult.  I managed to learn that he was terrified of staying in detention and was able to tell the judge that he wanted to go back to the locked mental health facility.  The judge was great with him and we managed to reassure him that we all cared about him and that he was going to get help.  We got him released to the locked facility about 20 minutes later.

The next morning, I find out that he ran from the locked down mental health facility and his whereabouts are unknown.... 

I pray that he doesn't do something drastic like kill himself but I am very afraid that he might...God help you JLW!