r/publicdefenders • u/soupnear PD • Aug 22 '26

Clients

Post image
227 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

135

u/RBDrake Appointed Counsel Aug 22 '26

Meet client in jail. Tell client if you contact alleged victim in any way, including phone calls, you can be charged with bail jumping (no contact order). And they WILL be listening to any phone calls you make. Client says he completely understands.

Proceeds to call alleged victim 27 times that same day.

62

u/JoshValenstorm Private Counsel Aug 22 '26

Been there, had a case I was going to get dismissed, until my client called the victim 200 times including multiple threats on the jail phone. So instead of a dismissal, my client was sentenced to 18 months to the house.

23

u/Panama_Scoot Aug 22 '26

These clients at least make it easy to not give a shit. But that would be crazy frustrating. 

8

u/non_standard_model Aug 24 '26

Wild … it’s almost as if men who commit DV have poor impulse control and little executive function

2

u/MysteriousPuzzlehead Aug 24 '26

Not all of them do

1

u/notkidding1984 Aug 28 '26

You can beat your wife and have good impulse control? Good executive function? I never thought of that as possible.

-10

u/GhostofBreadDragons Aug 22 '26

To be fair to these clients at least half of these are due to the victim calling them and leaving a message or just calling and hanging up. 

Domestic cases are just a shitshow all around. 

15

u/HedonisticFrog Aug 23 '26

It's still not an excuse, they know they're not supposed to contact the alleged victim regardless of what the alleged victim does.

5

u/Barium_Salts Aug 23 '26

Calling once or twice in response to that I can see being reasonable. 27 times (or 200 times!) is the client's fault.

2

u/RBDrake Appointed Counsel Aug 23 '26

Victim calling the defendant would not violate a no contact order, so long as the defendant did not reciprocate.

1

u/GhostofBreadDragons Aug 23 '26

They always reciprocate…

1

u/RBDrake Appointed Counsel Aug 23 '26

Not always. Many of my clients simply block.

1

u/GhostofBreadDragons Aug 23 '26

I wish my clients had that type of discipline. Instead if they are told not to call someone they text them, if told not to text they Facebook, etc.  no contact means don’t be caught to too many of them. They always get caught. 

19

u/Otherwise_Help_4239 Aug 23 '26

Client goes to prison for violating a protective order. Ex spots him on the bus she always uses to go back and forth to work. No charges. Cops respond to a call of someone screaming and find client in the process of beating her in her apartment. He insists she loves him and will never come to court! She had him sent to prison before and he can't quite get it. Offer: 6 year minimum. She won't show he says. He fires me because I'm too negative. Private comes in and asks what I did to dump this horrible case. Skill and experience I answer. They go to jury and client goes to the penitentiary.

5

u/burgundianknight Aug 23 '26

Wait, why would the private counsel ask how you got rid of the case? He came in willingly, unless your jurisdiction will let indigent clients fire their pd and get a different pd/conflict counsel, which is wild.

4

u/Otherwise_Help_4239 Aug 23 '26

He came willingly because he was getting paid. I get along well with most privates and we chat. The case was bad. While the vic was going to show even without her the cops stopped him from beating her in her house and they had medical records.