29 July 2008

To Jury or Not to Jury

Defendant demands jury. I prep jury. On the morning of trial, defendant realizes, OMG, he's actually going to try me! Defendant sends defense attorney to see if deal is still available. It is. He pleads guilty and has to pick up the tab for the jury.

Defendant demands jury. I prep jury. On the morning of trial, defendant realizes, OMG, he's actually going to try me! Defendant sends defense attorney to see if deal is still available. It is. He pleads guilty and has to pick up the tab for the jury.

Defendant demands jury. I prep jury. On the morning of trial, defendant realizes, OMG, he's actually going to try me! Defendant sends defense attorney to see if deal is still available. It is. He pleads guilty and has to pick up the tab for the jury.

Lather, rinse, repeat ad infinitum.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why are your plea offers still available in trial court? If they want to plead off my trial calendar, they plead as charged with sentencing in the discretion of the court. It means a few more trials up front, but defense attorneys eventually get the picture and take the deal before they clog up my trial calendars.

Anonymous said...

I have all my trial notebooks saved on my computer, in case a similar issue arises in an upcoming trial. A few days ago, I was going through them, and it struck me how few of these trial notebooks actually resulted in trials.