MissTyrios dot com

I just got an email telling me my blog is now part of the ABA directory, so I figured that perhaps I should pay some attention to it.  It’s not that I have purposely ignored it - it’s just the same old, same old.  No time.  Never any time.  (I’m so excited….anyone?)  I don’t get to comb news stories and other websites much anymore, thus I didn’t have as much material or inspiration to draw on, nor do I have time to actually sit down at the damn computer and write.  But I am in need of some distractions lately, and potentially will need more in the near future.  So why not (once again, I know) resurrect my dear misstyrios.com.

Here’s a summary of what is going on in my public defender life lately -

 - I have a big, big case on for trial a week from today.  The stakes are high, as is my confidence (tentatively). That is perhaps what worries me most.

 - I have, by far, the biggest caseload in my office.  I’m the first one in, the last one to leave, and the one here alone on the weekends.  It’s always been my nature to work (overly) hard and I get anxious when I have too much free time.  But it may be getting to me and it may be time to reassess the situation at hand.

 - With that all said, I have to get back to work.  But I’m thinking of you, blog.

If you remember, my first trial was a contested bench trial last July, which I won.  My first jury trial was last September, which I won on four out of seven counts by way of required findings of not guilty, but the jury convicted on all three counts that went to them and my client was taken into custody as a result.  Well, today I had another jury trial and I got to hear the jury say “NOT GUILTY” for the first time.  And it was glorious.  One charge, not guilty, you are free to go, ma’am.   Best feeling ever.  Until I started thinking about all the things I did wrong, but that’s to be expected, I suppose.  I wish I could go into more detail about the shenanigans that manifested during jury selection and the prosecution’s case, but I am not totally anonymous anymore, so I am not going to.

I’m back to being a writer/editor for the suicidegirls website (if you don’t know, it’s a site focused primarily on naked girls, so don’t be shocked).  I began my internet writing career as a Politics writer/editor over there from 2005-06.  When they went in a different direction, I was no longer needed and eventually came here on my own.  They are going in yet another different direction and have given me the Politics post again.  I am thrilled about this and I will tell you why - I have been in a rut and this was a gig that I just adored.  It is no secret that I never really got this site off the ground - I didn’t give it the attention that a real blog needs and I figured that no one was reading, so why keep writing?  It was a terrible trap to fall into, of course, because the less I write, the less there is for anyone at all to read.  But now that I am back writing for a built-in audience and responsibility to answer to, I anticipate a rebirth of this site.  I will cross-post at times (not everyone wants to go to a naked girl site, even though you will be able to read my stories without paying for membership or looking at any actual nakedness.  And certainly not my nakedness, let’s make that clear).  I will make this my public defender focus, though - SG is not the place for most of the stories I like to write here, which are more personal and somewhat more raw.  I will have a broader focus there, though my job and my passions will still shine through no matter what.

Once I get set up over there again, I will let you know.

Merry Christmas to all my clients, past and present, who are in jail for this Christmas.  I tried my hardest for all of you and I am thinking about you.  I wish I could do more.

The special prosecutors hired to investigate the Big Dig celing collapse death are being paid $30,000 per week by the state of Massachusetts.  To date, only one company has been charged with manslaughter in the death and that carries a maximum penalty of a $1000 fine. 

I get paid less than $40,000 per year by the state of Massachusetts to defend the indigent full-time.  There is something seriously, seriously wrong here.

During a commercial break in last night’s Patriots game, my friend clicked over to the NC State/Villanova basketball game on ESPN.  And the announcer said at that very moment:

“So what you’re saying is, if you were a lawyer, you wouldn’t put a public defender on him!”

Ouch.

I like to pretend that I am computer-savvy, but I am not. And I am having some problems with WordPress (like downloading a newer version and losing my incoming links section). I tried their documentation and support forums, but they are on a level that is too advanced for me. Can anyone help? I feel like these are things that I should be able figure out, but I can’t. And I’m frustrated.

If you can help, email me at misstyrios@misstyrios.com. I will buy you ice cream.  Somehow.

I made it though my first trial.  We ended up doing a bench trial instead of a jury trial, but it was still fully contested and we did motions, openings, closings, the whole bit.

And the verdict?

Not Guilty.  Go me.

Christian Hatfield is the Chief Public Defender in Aztec, New Mexico and on Friday, he was also briefly an inmate at the San Juan County Detention Center. Why, you ask? Not because he showed up drunk to a trial or anything (see below), but because one of the attorneys in his office realized that he had previously represented a witness in the case against his client. Yes, he was held in contempt of court for respecting the code of ethics that we as lawyers abide by. Granted, it meant postponing the trial (which seems to only be a problem when it is the defense asking for it), but it also meant standing up for those ethics that Judge Wilma Charley apparently found pesky.

The judge told Hatfield that [public defender Stephen] Taylor could not withdraw from the case and gave him two options: Stay the course or be found in contempt of court.

Hatfield, who had his criminal mug shot hanging on his office door Friday, said that as the chief public defender, he felt it was his duty to uphold his ethical values, and decided he would rather be found in contempt of court than allow Taylor to represent [defendant Ismael] Cordova.

“Since I’m the manager of this office, I didn’t want any of my lawyers to go to jail,” he said.

Contempt of court is punishable by a fine between $100 and $1,000, or a sentencing of 30 to 90 days in jail, or both, according to state statute.

This brings to light another issue - that of recognizing conflicts of interest. Hatfield acknowledged that his office should have caught this error ahead of time, but such things can sometimes be extremely difficult. Contrary to what some people (some prosecutors included) think, there are no hard-and-fast categories of Defendants and Victims. Those who sometimes appear as Victims in a particular case have also, at some point, been Defendants and vice versa. Of course, Defendants are usually precluded from bringing up a Victim’s past as a Defendant and a Victim’s veracity is never questioned once they are given that label (whereas the Defendant is always seen as the lying scum).

Anyway. I have to go prepare for a violation of probation hearing that I will likely lose because, of course, Police and Probation Officers are also never mistaken or lying.