Working at the Office of the Public Defender is incredible.
I’m learning so much about the practice of criminal law, it’s actually pretty pathetic. I mean, you’d like to imagine that after law school and the bar you know something about the reality of criminal law.
Something.
Anything at all.
Yesterday I interned at the Office of the Public Defender in district court. This was the first day of my new schedule, working my 40 hours in 4 days and taking Tuesdays off to intern at the OPD. It was frigging fantastic.
Since I’m still waiting on my bar results the most I can do is act as a law clerk, but that’s still much more than I’ve had the chance to do before now.
The more I find out about the court and its procedures (not civil, not criminal, but administrative) the more ignorant I feel. But at least it’s tempered with the knowledge that I’m in the right place to learn.
Turns out that the district court I’m working at splits up the courtrooms by district. I was assigned to one courtroom and I shadow the attorneys who work that room.
Utter chaos started the day; people all over the place, lawyers snatching conversations with clients and their families beforehand and running out of the courtroom for minutes at a time to follow up with clients afterward.
Between the two attorneys I shadowed, there were about 20 cases during the morning docket, but only 5 or so during the afternoon.
When the afternoon docket was finished, one of the attorneys asked me if I found it boring or exciting. I told him that I’m still at the point where it’s all exciting, no matter how boring it is.
http://www.mdcourts.gov/opinions/cosa/2011/1992s09.pdf
This opinion by the Court of Special Appeals addresses several issues. The one I want to highlight is the second question presented to the court.
2. Did the trial court err in admitting extrinsic evidence of a prior inconsistent statement made by the Appellant when the Appellant admitted having made the statement and explained why he had made it?
This was supposed to have been easier.
When I first starting working, years before I started law school, I ran into the same problem everyone runs into when trying to find an entry-level position anywhere — how do you get work experience without already having work experience?
I was fortunate enough to get an interview with SSA back when they were still hiring anyone with a pulse. Now, nearly seven years later when I’m looking for a job in the legal profession, I was hoping that having seven years of work experience would count for something.
I will now allow you to wipe up whatever it was you were drinking that you spewed all over your keyboard after reading that.
I wasn’t going to write about this. I really wasn’t.
People have already said most of what I wanted to say. They’ve said it better than I can.
Then I saw that Maryland Senator Nancy Jacobs is proposing a bill that makes it a felony if a parent fails to notify the police within a short period of time after the death of the child is discovered.
http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2011/120a09.pdf
This opinion, from the MD Court of Appeals, involves a manslaughter case from 1994 in which the trial judge gave jury instructions that changed the definition of “reasonable doubt.“
Read more »
http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2011/24a08.pdf
This is a pretty straightforward issue involving a defendant who did not trust his lawyer and thought he could do a better job.
The Wiretap law in Maryland exists to protect society’s right to privacy by protecting conversations we engage in, thinking that we know who can hear us. All laws, however worded, carry with them the potential to be misused, to criminalize activity unintended by the legislators. The Maryland Wiretap law has been the focus of media attention recently because of efforts of police officers to use the Wiretap law to criminalize videotaping police interactions. This is an inappropriate application of the current law that does nothing to further the public policy interest in privacy. Furthermore, such an application of the Maryland Wiretap law goes against the interest society has in being able to supervise the police.
http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2011/34a10.pdf
Read more »
