Bob Marrow describes first experience in court as a lawyer.
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I volunteered to work for the Criminal Division of the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan because I was about to be drafted during Viet Nam and couldn’t start a regular job. It was January 1966. I had been admitted to the New York State Bar in December 1965 after graduating from NYU Law School in June and taking the Bar Exam in July. Shortly after I began as a volunteer, Legal Aid put me on staff with a salary.
When you start working for Legal Aid as a criminal defense lawyer, the first place you are sent is to the Arraignment and Sentencing Part. There you spend two weeks observing arraignments and sentencings. An arraignment is the proceeding in which a defendant after arrest is first brought before the court. He is read his rights and the charges by the court clerk (which reading is always waived by his lawyer). Then the court hears arguments from the defense and prosecution on the issue of bail. If bail is granted the defendant can post bail and be released pending trial. The defense lawyer always asks that his client be released without bail, “on his own recognizance” because most defendants can’t make bail; that is, they can’t raise the money or post the bond needed to get released “on bail.”
When you start working for Legal Aid as a criminal defense lawyer, the first place you are sent is to the Arraignment and Sentencing Part. There you spend two weeks observing arraignments and sentencings.
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[An amusing footnote: Nearly every person arrested was indigent and was assigned Legal Aid. Occasionally, there were two or more defendants arrested in the same incident and then a lawyer had to be appointed from the list maintained by the Appellate Division of the NYS Supreme Court. This list of “Appellate Division Lawyers” consisted of experienced attorneys who could be assigned to defend indigent defendants when Legal Aid was not available, such as when there were two or more defendants arrested together. In that case there was a “conflict of interests.” One defendant might want to make a deal with the prosecution, or for some other reason put the blame on the other defendant(s). Experienced defendants knew that Appellate Division Lawyers were sometimes assigned to certain indigent defendants, but they didn’t really know why or what that meant — so, an experienced defendant who did not want Legal Aid was frequently heard to ask: “Your Honor, can I have a Pelican Lawyer?]
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For the two weeks that I observed these proceedings, every arraignment was the same. The defense lawyer argued that his client had roots in the community and was not a threat to flee. Those roots were based on employment and family relationships. Next the defense attorney would argue that the case against the defendant was weak, another reason the defendant was unlikely to flee. Finally, if appropriate, the defense would point out that the defendant had no prior record or only minor charges on his Yellow Sheet (a printout of each defendant’s record of prior arrests and convictions) — therefore, he was not a danger to the community if released. The arraignments were repetitive and boring. The judges spend their time on the bench talking on the phone or in whispered conversations with visitors who came up to the bench.
I modulated my voice to make my speech interesting, but still no one was listening except my client and the ADA — certainly the Judge wasn’t paying attention.
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When I got my first chance to represent a defendant at arraignment, I wanted the Judge to listen to my arguments. This was exciting and a challenge. I started out my first arraignment by saying that my client had deep roots in the community, he had a job, he had a family and he most certainly would not flee if released on his own recognizance. Then I focused on the weakness of the prosecution’s case. I modulated my voice to make my speech interesting, but still no one was listening except my client and the ADA — certainly the Judge wasn’t paying attention. Then I got to the part where I was going to explain that my client had no prior record — in fact, he had never even been arrested. I couldn’t let this important information pass unnoticed, so I said, “Judge, my client’s record is even cleaner than mine.”
Do you remember the commercials, “When EF Hutton Speaks, People Listen?” Well, that’s what happened in the courtroom at that moment. The Judge slowly turned from his conversation and looked directly at me. The court clerks and court officers stopped talking and stared at me. The ADA turned to me with a look of surprise or amazement. The buzzing of the audience became an attentive hush. My client looked at me expectantly, wondering what would happen next.
The Judge said to the court reporter,“This is off the record.” Then he turned to me and said, “OK, counsel, let’s hear about your record.”
If I tell you what I said, you’ll probably be disappointed; certainly I will be embarrassed.
Oh, OK; my driver’s license was suspended when I was 18, I was expelled from Dartmouth College after my freshman year and I was divorced. That’s it.
The defendant was released on his own recognizance.
P.S. After this arraignment I was critiqued by two experienced Legal Aid lawyers supervising the Part. They spoke to me separately and privately. One said that it was the worst arraignment that he had ever seen and I was an embarrassment to the office. The other said that it was the best arraignment that he had ever seen and I definitely got the Judge’s attention.
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Photo credit: Michael Foley/flickr