A day in the life of a brooklyn public defender, from representing clients in court to tracking down video surveillance.
Right now, I’m sitting next to a young man with his arms cuffed behind his back sitting uncomfortably with two plain clothes warrant officers watching over him for accidentally missing a court date this past month. About to see a judge. He’s now in danger of being jailed on Rikers.People I represent miss court dates because they can’t afford public transportation, can’t get out of work, have other appointments or just plain forget.
Ultimately, the man who had been sitting next to me, who’d been arrested on a non-violent felony, wasYes, it’s still only 11 a.m. My young client is brought up. I walk through a metal door into the cells in the back — sterilized white painted brick walls, and white painted metal bars, the only color provided by the stainless-steel toilet and, I notice, my client’s bright red jumpsuit.
Today, his case was supposed to be over. After all of this, he was being offered a plea of guilty to a misdemeanor — petit larceny — with a sentence of time already served. But the paperwork wasn’t ready and the courtroom was going to be closed in the afternoon. He would have to come back once more in two days. He was exasperated: “Again?!” I apologized, but there was nothing I could do.
Today, I spent time with the Brooklyn Defender Services reentry specialists drafting a letter advocating for parole to release a man I long represented. This case is particularly disturbing because my client was charged with arson, even though no fire was actually started. During an altercation with a store owner, he threw a lighted up bottle onto the roof of the store, but nothing came of it.
Even though we established that our client had an undiagnosed mental health condition for which he was now receiving treatment, as well as achieving sobriety from alcohol, I was never able to convince the District Attorney’s office to give him a chance at treatment. Instead, he is serving about three and a half years in jail, if the parole board releases him.On the commute home I try to decompress. I listen to music, or call family and friends.
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