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1018 Preston, 2nd Floor Houston, Texas 77002 P) 713-222-9141 F) 713-236-1886
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On being a Criminal Defense Attorney. LIfe is cruel. You can raise a kid for 17 years, nurturing, caring, teaching and worrying the entire time. You can beam with pride when he gets accepted into a vaunted University, feeling satisfied that all the hours you spent doing homework with him somehow paid off. You can sit back and feel nothing but joy at the prospect of watching him mature into a man and a father. You can look forward to his graduation, his wedding day, your grandchildren, his success, his happiness, the fishing trips, the Thanksgivings. All the sacrifices are forgotten. All that is left are the snap shots in your mind of the little victories and smaller losses that ultimately turned your precious little boy into a beautiful young man. So filled with boundless potential! Life couldn't possibly get any better. Then one day you get a call from the Dean, or the police, telling you that some hate filled alienated student fired a 9mm bullet into his head, killing him, for no reason whatsoever. I won't speak for all Criminal Lawyers, but I can speak for this one. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people, and I see all of it played out in our offices. I deal with so much tragedy in this job, that I get numb. It takes the masacre that occurred at Virgina Tech to jolt me into the reality of how cruel this world can actually be. I have said before that depression is a rolling theme in this office. I suppose we couldn't be effective lawyers if our client's pain didn't rub off on us in small portions. But after awhile these small portions add up, layering us in the ashes and rubble of despair. The firm appears to be mired in the muck lately. Matt put it well the other day when he said it feels like there is too much gravity in our office. I think we need some Mariachis and Margaritas.
Rat Pack - Part 2 Ed had never met Sherry, and so was unaccostumed to her direct ways. He was unprepared to answer when she called Ed and asked him what was wrong with her husband. "Who is this?", was Ed's first response. After she identified herself as Alan's wife, she asked again what was wrong with her husband. "Nothing", Ed replied... naturally. Ed barely knew the guy, despite growing up with him in the same community, despite going to Highschool with him, despite going to the same University, despite pledging the same fraternity, despite being lawyers in the same community, despite it all. There seemed to be nothing wrong or right with Alan. They both existed in the same subset of humanity. Other than that, nothing. "Then why won't you hire him?", she asked. "Are you people dense?", Ed blurted, "I can't pay my rent half the time. I'm floating checks right now. I eat noodles, damn it... how am I going to pay an associate?" Sherry agreed it was impossible, and so naturally suggested they all meet for dinner to discuss it. Ed staggered from the ridiculous nature of the proposition, but as Fate would have it, he was hungry. He agreed to meet but laid some ground rules. "First, no promises", Ed declared, "and Second, you buy." Sherry agreed. They met at the Lucky Village Chinese Buffet on Westheimer. With Ed's stomach full of General Taos Chicken, Alan proposed a highly unconventional employment arrangement - at least since pre Civil War. He suggested that Ed allow him to work for free and in the event he felt Alan was worth a salary he could pay him what Ed thought he was worth. (No, I'm not making this up.) Now, Ed wasn't a dumbass... even then. He knew there was no free lunch. He made it clear that even if he were so inclined to rate Alan worthy of a salary, no revenue meant no income for anybody. And so far in Ed's entrepunerial career, revenue was the single biggest problem. Guilt doesn't pay the mortgage, he reminded the insane duo, and guilt was likely the only thing to be generated from Alan's labors. The two couldn't agree more strongly with Ed's dire assessment but wanted to take the risk. Ed shook his head in amazement, and opened his fortune cookie. It said, "New connections will change the course off your future." Ed decided that either the world was fucking with him, or he was on some hidden camera show. He agreed to the deal. I suppose the story would do well to fast forward. Alan, hopefully without sounding too terribly derivitive, completed Ed. Simply put, Alan got along with people Ed could not. Alan was able to complete deals, that in Ed's fumbling hands resulted in bitter litigation. Granted, Ed often won, but only after litigations unique stress and worry. Alan got things done without unnecessary Saber rattling. Now, to be fair, Ed gave Alan the opportunity to speak softly and carry a big stick. Alan could be as reasonable as he wanted, but if the prosecution refused to reciprociate, they knew that Alan would transfer the case to the trial bureau and they would be forced to deal with the Gollum. Somehow, revenue followed. Alan went one month without salary. He hasn't missed since. (To be continued...)
Before and after I was rambling through the Brazoria County courthouse last week. I was stopped by a young lawyer (anybody licensed in the 90's) who told me that he had been reading my blog. Frankly, I didn't know what to say. I didn't think anybody was reading this shit except for my secretary, law clerk and associate. They just want to know if I'm talking about them. One day I might just mention them to give them a shock. So this lawyer, recently released from the DA's office engaged me in a conversation about one of his cases. He was going to trial that day and wanted my opinion of his scheme to avoid the prosecution's desire to offer some extraneous offenses against his client charged with assault against his spouse. We had a short discussion about his trial strategy and then I referred him to our website.? The thing is, what struck me about the questions he asked and the way he phrased his questions led me to think of this topic. You know... most lawyers treat this as a game. I did, I must admit. When I was in the DA's office and afterwards I treated a trial as an opportunity to win, as if I was in some fantasy football league. The DA's office trains you that way. Nobody ever asks you after a trial whether the defendant was guilty. Not the issue. It was the result. Every year the Harris County DA's office kept score. A memo was passed around which showed the number off cases tried and the convictions obtained. It was a joke when someone was reversed because of insufficient evidence. Think about that for a second... the appeals court decided that a case was so devoid of evidence that "no rational juror could have convicted". That was funny? To be honest, to me it was.? Some of the things i did in the DA's office embarasses me now. I won, and always. I have to admit that I took advantage of some of the defense attorney's who I came up against. Some were clueless. Some didn't give a damn. I will never, never forget the defense attorney, who after a conviction, pulled out a yellow legal pad and with a black marker, crossed out the name of somebody on a list of cases he had pending. It was as if he was deleting an item on a to-do list.? I was 24 when I becamean Assistant DA. 24? I was making decisions about the future of people twice my age and probably hundreds of times my better. They were accused of DWI or Assault or getting the wrong kind of lap dance. At 28 I was prosecuting people for Rape, Murder and Aggravated Robbery. I once tried a rape case where the complainant was 90 years old and had cateracts. She couldn't identify her accuser and we took a DNA sample from the defendant. My memory may be flawed but I think it was the second DNA case tried in Harris County. The results showed a 1900 to 1 chance that it was the Defendant. At the time that impressed me. The jury convicted. I'm humbled now. The DNA tests these days show odds in the millions. Was the test wrong? Was the application wrong? The company that provided the test had every reason to make the county happy. And consider the latest news story showing the ineptitude of the City of Houston crime lab.? This lawyer that stopped me in the hall had this mentality. It was the win. I'm not at all troubled by his desire to keep old offenses from the jury. A jury ought not to determine the guilt of an individual by his past... but what will happen if the jury gets those extraneous offenses? Is the game over?? Years go by and transition happens. At some point, the win becomes secondary and the client takes the lead. The client's family becomes primary. Clients hire us to win. But what is winning? An aquittal is winning at it's most basic. I get that. I have never lost a jury trial involving family violence. But I haven't tried every one either. Sometimes a family comes to me with a problem, not a trial. Can I help them with that problem? I haven't any idea what kind of case this young lawyer had to try. Was there a divorce pending? Are there kids? I'm not trying to judge. But I do know this... what he was about to do was not a mock trial. What he was doing meant everything to this man's family and this man's life. That should be the focus. Otherwise, we are just prosecutors.?
What do I do? I woke up at 4am on Saturday morning. I couldn't sleep. I went outside on my back porch, opened a beer and lit a cigar. I started thinking about a young man charged with rape. He is 17 years old and until recently quarterback of his high school football team. His family came to me recently to talk to me about his case. He has a lawyer, but judging by the course of his defense I understand his families concern about this young man's future. The case doesn't seem reasonable to me. The girl claimed that this boy forced her into his car and he further forced his finger into her vagina - hence the rape. However, this supposedly happened at 11am during school. Considering the miliary philosphy of these high schools, I have trouble believing that she could have been forced anywhere without someone noticing. No investigation has been done but trial begins in less than two months. This boy spent thirty days in juvenile custody with no history of past violence. That sounds like a setup to me. The prosecutor charged this boy as a "pseudo juvenile" so he is facing 40 years. I want to help, but the family can't afford the firm.? Now, I know what you are thinking.... but we can't just represent people for reduced fees anymore. We would be swamped and unable to help the people who pay us. Still this kid haunts me. He needs good representation and good investigation. It's expensive but his future depends on it. I can't help thinking about my own son. I need to do something.?
Clients who Love and Hate A little update on my client who was charged with Heroin possession in Federal Court… As you may recall, the guidelines suggested 120 months. I filed objections to the PSR and a sentencing memorandum suggesting that the Judge should lower the punishment to what the guidelines would have recommended without the cocaine allegations. In a packed courtroom, the Judge stated that the guidelines were unfair as applied to my client and lowered the sentence to 63 months. I breathed a sigh of relief. My client was saved five years of his life. Interestingly, my son was on summer break and was hanging out with me at the office. I had taken him to the sentencing hearing. Afterwards he asked, "Dad, the next time you take me to court can I come when you are going to win?" If only he knew! Recently Bill and I represented a client who was charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. His potential punishment was astronomical. A conviction or even deferred adjudication would have left him with the horrendous reality of registering as a sex offender for the rest of his life! We actually got his case dismissed twice. The first time was on trial day. The prosecutor- I think as a result of pressure from the family - re-filed the case. The case was dismissed again a week before the next trial setting. The prosecutor agreed to dismiss and re-file the case as public lewdness. Public Lewdness is a misdemeanor, with no registration requirement. After some pressure, the prosecutor agreed to allow for expunction of the felony. Then he agreed to a deferred of the public lewdness. Then he agreed to a non-disclosure of the misdemeanor! (For those of you who don't understand the importance of these dispositions, go to http://www.houstoncriminallaw.com/ and check out the FAQ.) Bottom Line: This man, who was facing the potential of life in prison AND registering for life, will now have his entire record erased, except for notations on law enforcement computers. He was understandably happy. Later, in a moment of stress, he called Bill to complain about pleading to a Class A misdemeanor instead of a Class B. This despite the fact that he completely understood that in his situation there was no meaningful distinction. Nice. We have a client who is a Doctor. She was charged with the felony offense of endangering a child in Brazoria County. Because she was not a citizen, any felony conviction would have subjected her to removal. Any misdemeanor considered aggravated could also have caused her deportation. She had two kids and a thriving practice. Although no more important than any of our other clients, she had much more to lose. I probably heard from her four times a week. I met with her so often; I put a picture of her entire family on my desk. I had told her that I considered her to be part of my extended family, so she brought me a photo! (My son was really confused about that one.) Without going into all that Alan, Bill and I did to resolve the case… which took well over a year by the way… the Bottom Line: The felony was dismissed and re-filed as a misdemeanor assault. We got that further reduced to an attempted assault and she received a year deferred on that. Alan (also known as Obe Wan) deserves credit for that one! How the hell do you attempt an assault? Obe Wan had to go to the DA herself to get that approved. Our client was deathly afraid to go to trial (and for good reason) but we had to threaten with a trial to get the deal done. She was thrilled. She got all that she wanted. I haven't heard from her since. Not one thank you. Nice. Of course, I'm just whining. I don't blame a client for wanting to put their nightmare behind them, and I am part of that nightmare for better or worse. I can’t tell you how many times I have given a card to someone who shoved it into their pocket along with the statement that they hoped to God they would never need me. But some do, naturally. Our Mission Statement points out that all of our clients are family and we are responsible for their well being, but that doesn't mean we are wanted. Let’s be realistic. We are needed, not wanted. That distinction is important. We have an overflowing collection of thank you letters from former clients and family members. We collect the letters and put them into a book that we place in the waiting room. It’s good PR but it serves another more important purpose. Whenever I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders I go to that book. It serves to remind me of what we mean to the people we represent. It gets me through. I will not soon forget the calls I get from clients who call just to tell me how well they are doing. What a high that is! I was kind of looking forward to hearing from my Doctor client. To conclude this update, some time after the sentencing in the heroin case, my son and I were in a major supermarket near our house. We were in the refrigerated section. A man came over to us, introduced himself as the manager, and asked if he could help us find something. I made some joke about how I only looked helpless. The manager looked familiar. He looked hard at me and then asked if my name was Ed Chernoff. I told him it was. He smiled and held out his hand, which I shook. He told me his name and it was then that I recognized him and his case. He said, "You helped me out a couple years ago. I’m doing great, and I want to thank you!." I thanked him back. He looked down at my son and told him, "Your father is a great lawyer, did you know that?" When he walked away, I turned to my son and said, "You see boy, now that is what winning is all about." He smiled and said "Dad, you rock!" Nice. |
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The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation. Copyright © 2008 by Stradley, Chernoff & Alford, L.L.P. All rights reserved. You may reproduce materials available at this site for your own personal use and for non-commercial distribution. All copies must include this copyright statement. |  |  |
