You lose, suckaaaah!

I argued a suppression motion (statements and evidence) today and at the end of it that's what the judge said to me: You lose, suckaaaah!

So let's see what we learned today:

1. You can never prepare too much for any court proceeding that requires questioning witnesses and/or making arguments. I repeat: There is no such thing as over-preparation!
2. Cross examinations are hard. When the witness doesn't say what you were hoping/expecting, you have to pick up and keep moving or you'll look really stupid. More preparation (e.g., investigation) might reduce the chance you'll get answers you don't expect or don't want. See lesson number one, above.
3. Asking leading questions without sounding hostile or petulant is an art.
4. Remember: If a judge overrules your objection, it's generally a fairly bad idea to make it again just to see if she's changed her mind in the last 30 seconds.
5. When the judge makes and sustains her own objections to your questions w/out any prompting from opposing counsel, that's probably a good sign you're seriously screwing up. It is also a sign that the prosecutor may be incompetent or asleep at the wheel, but forget about that—it will only make you feel worse when you eventually lose.
6. Judges believe cops. Get used to hearing the words, “the court credited the testimony of the police officers.”
7. Judges do not believe defendants. Get used to hearing the words, “the court did not credit the testimony of the defendant.”
8. Innis may not be as handy as it seems to defense attorneys.
9. Pulling together arguments on the fly and incorporating all of the important evidence just elicited at a hearing is crazy tough. There were at least three big things I forgot to say in my final argument, dammit. They almost certainly wouldn't have changed the outcome, but I still wish I'd said them.
10. It takes concentration and constant vigilance not to make faces at judges who insist on spending five minutes describing in painful detail why they are basically ignoring everything you've been saying for the last two hours.

So yeah, all around it was a, um, good day. I learned a lot. For a couple of hours after the hearing I just kept thinking about what I wished I could say to the judge to explain all the things she seemed to ignore or miss or not care about. But that's not possible. You get your chances at well-defined times in court, and if you forget to say something or say it poorly, too bad for you, and more importantly, too bad for your client.

In the end, although it was tough to hear how absolutely my motions were denied, my client got a pretty good sentence of all suspended time and a few months supervised probation. He was pleased to be staying out of jail so all's well that ends well, more or less.

And hey, tomorrow's another day, and in front of the same judge, too. You're jealous, aren't you?

Posted 09:03 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | 3L crimlaw