It's been almost a month since I've posted anything. Mostly I've been involved in a jury trial that has consumed most of my time with any leftover time given to the rest of my practice and my wife.
A jury trial is what many of us lawyers live for. A trial tests the pinnacle of your skills as a lawyer. You compete with another lawyer in shaping what the jury will consider to be evidence. Surprisingly, there are relatively few lawyers that know how to try a case. I haven't seen statistics, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that most lawyers will never in their careers participate as lead counsel in a jury trial.
A criminal jury trial is even harder than a normal trial, because you are faced with the prospect that your client will lose his liberty if you lose the trial. If you don't break down a certain witness with your cross examination, you could lose. If you don't relate well to the jury, you could lose. There are a million things that could go wrong and you should be paralyzed with stress. Yet, I find that you feel very alive while you are trying the case.
In my recent trial, there was a moment where I was able to ask the police officer if he in fact was the person who committed the crime! There was another moment when I confronted an eyewitness with his alleged methamphetamine addiction.
At the end of the trial, the jurors weren't able to convict my client because I'd raised a doubt about every piece of evidence in the case.
A friend asked me if this was justice. It's another way of asking whether a guilty person had gone free. I can't break client confidentiality by answering this question directly, but I'll try a generic answer.
Like many Americans, I believe in the presumption of innocence. My job as a defense attorneys is to protect my client's rights under the constitution. I'll do this to the limit of my abilities because it keeps the system honest.
It's better for a guilty person to be free than for an innocent man to be incarcerated. You have to believe this to be any good at jury trials.
About Me
- Estolano in San Diego
- chula vista, California
- Random thoughts, some of them funny, from a San Diego divorce and criminal defense attorney, as he fights for his clients in Court, fights the battle of bulge and goes through life.
1 comment:
Ooh. That sounds like it was a cool trial to have sat and watched. Good job Ray! --Bianca
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