Notes from practice · D.C. Superior Court
Probation. Drugs. School. Then Home.
I have a little speech I like to give to my juvenile clients. I tell them that, while I will be looking out for their...
That Was The Right Decision, Judge. No Matter What I Said.
One of the first things they told us during the training for court-appointed juvenile cases was that we should never allow ourselves to become...
Ode to My Investigator
I botched the investigation. I went to the store on Upper Wisconsin Avenue in which my client was alleged to have committed a robbery. ...
On Recusals: Offending the Judge, Protecting the Client
A couple of years ago, a Court of Common Pleas judge in Philadelphia banned me from her courtroom for life. Both the stenographer and...
Dealing with the Parents of a Juvenile Client
My client’s mother is annoyed with me. She disagrees with her 16-year-old son’s decision to take his case to trial, and she is convinced I...
Blame the System, Not The Judge, In The Tyronn Garner Matter
What happens if I release him and he goes out and kills someone? What happens if I release him and he goes out and...
A Lesser Standard for Proving Culpability in Juvenile Cases
During my first couple of weeks with the Juvenile Division at the Philadelphia Public Defender’s Office, I took what I believed to be a...
In Re Gault: “Constitutional Domestication” of the Juvenile Justice System
There are only a small number of criminal cases that all lawyers, even those who don’t practice criminal law, seem to know. Although Miranda v....
On The Terminology and Fiction of Juvenile Justice
As a public defender in Philadelphia, I did a brief stint in the Juvenile Division representing young people accused of committing a crime. People told...
Juvenile Court Forever
You watch him go. You realize that, from his perspective, the future is nothing more than a quick visit with the judge, a bologna sandwich...