Into the Paddy Wagon We Go…
This past week almost every attorney social circle I joined was talking about the criminal defense attorney in Dare County, North Carolina. This attorney was unfortunately jailed on contempt charges during his representation of a client during the sentencing phase for a death penalty case. Say what?! According to an article in the digital magazine, The Assembly (www.theassemblync.com ) a Dare County Superior Court Judge found one of three defense attorneys for a convicted murderer in contempt and sentenced him to thirty days in the county jail. From what I can tell from the article in The Assembly, the Judge got frustrated by the attorney, in essence, just trying to preserve the record and represent his client adequately. The attorney allegedly had earlier called the Court out for its perceived bias against his client (it seems by objecting in some way to the all-white jury deciding his black client’s fate) and voicing their disagreement with the Court allowing jurors, who clearly indicated that they would not consider a life sentence for the Defendant, remain on the panel.
I listened and read about this story, all the while telling my mother that no matter how much money former President Trump was willing to offer, it was becoming far too risky to represent him due to the potential prison exposure one may subsequently face. There are actual separate headlines regarding the served and potential prison sentences of those attorneys who have represented former President Trump. While the publicity and notoriety of representing former President Trump may be alluring, one cannot ignore the real potential prison exposure one may experience by representing him (including getting stiffed financially, allegedly) Damn, we are starting to get rounded up y’all.
There are so many things wrong with these pictures I have painted, however stick like. Yes, we attorneys are human, fallible and very capable of going to prison for the bad things we do. However, that is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is the risk of us going to jail or prison merely for just doing our jobs and representing our clients (or the State for that matter). For instance, this criminal defense attorney in Dare County. I do not know the whole story and have not read one iota of a trial transcript, so I am clearly operating from a position of very little knowledge. But it just seems kind of extreme for an attorney to be held in contempt during the sentencing phase of a criminal trial. My first thought is: “What could I have done that was just so bad that warranted a sanction of jail time?” So often, the Court is so consumed with maintaining a clean record so that cases don’t come back from the Court of Appeals with “edits” that even when an attorney is out of line, at risk of a mistrial, a Court will let that shit go. Absent an attorney just hauling off and punching their client in the middle of trial, it is hard for me to fathom what one could do to get thirty days in the pokey. It would not surprise me, if upon review, this Judge’s actions were deemed over reactive and extreme.
Then on the other side of the coin, where many a Trump lawyer is now facing prison time, there are other penal risks of representing a client. There are those clients who are just too damn problematic that they cannot help but get you in trouble. Now, I am not saying that those former Trump attorneys didn’t know what they were doing when they were doing it (allegedly). But I cannot imagine that Mr. Trump found him some attorneys who already had a track record of (allegedly) committing crime. Meaning that these attorneys encountered by Mr. Trump are now all of a sudden looking down the barrel of a prison gun, whereas before they probably lead a relatively law abiding life (I am assuming). Or did they?
All I know is that it feels like we collectively are at risk of going to prison. Or maybe this is how it has always been. Take during the Civil Rights Movement. All those storied, brilliant and brave attorneys who saw fit to continue to file motion after motion and lawsuit after lawsuit in opposition to the racist and debilitating laws of the Jim Crow South. Or during the McCarthy Era where anyone who even smelled like a Communist or saw fit to defend one was always in jeopardy of being rounded up themselves. Maybe when those lawyers that fight the good fight or just can’t stand the hypocrisy and racism of the system choose to refuse to remain silent, there is always the threat of being imprisoned alongside your client. Or, in the case of former President Trump and his former attorneys, perhaps being star struck and possibly misguided into following a controversial figure blindly down an uneven and precarious path presents the risk of being jailed. Either we are at risk for deprivation of our own freedom for dutifully representing our clients, or at that same risk for drinking the proverbial “Kool-Aid” served up by our clients. Perhaps either way, we cannot ever forget that our profession is not only laden with promises but also very real risks. It is probably not unreasonable for us to ask ourselves from time to time if we continue to be willing to accept those risks, and if we are being realistic with ourselves about what those risks are.
I am hopeful by the time I have published this post that that capital defender has been set free from the Dare County jail. I am also hopeful that, in my lifetime, such vicious and irresponsible actions taken by some members of the bench become a distant memory that all need not forget but shudder to remember. I also hope that at some point, the parade of attorneys that continue to represent former President Trump in his many legal troubles begin to think for themselves and stand up for themselves in the representation of such a divisive client. Can we all agree that we should at least TRY not to go jail if we can help it? But, if I had to choose between active time in defense of core principles of American freedom and equality versus the notoriety and perceived prestige in representing a self-indulgent aging politician in pursuit of a manufactured cause, I choose the former. Because, if we are going to be at risk at being thrown in the slammer as a part of our profession, we better be damn sure we can live with and get behind the reasons why.
*Image Credit: 4828019 © Vadim Rybakov | Dreamstime.com