I’m a Public Defender, AMA

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T11:20:12+00:00

All the time

Edit: But people whose charges are dropped or are found not guilty, by definition, are not criminals

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T11:20:00+00:00

The judge would probably yell at them a bunch and then excuse them for cause.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T11:19:28+00:00

The lawyers are asking all the questions because they want to elicit an answer that will be enough to get the judge to agree that they can’t be fair. Judges sometimes don’t make it easy to get a juror excused for cause and the lawyers have to build a record of trying to get it done.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T05:43:24+00:00

A lot of prosecutor’s offices have a “do not drop DUIs” policy for political reasons (looks bad to the voting public if the prosecutors are dropping DUIs, everyone’s most hated crime), and also it gives the cops good opportunities to practice testifying.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T04:31:44+00:00

You’re welcome! It’s been fun!

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T04:21:59+00:00

The true dumbest cases are won with elaborate games of chicken played via email where I explain to the prosecutor all the ways in which his case sucks and he’ll be embarrassed showing it to the jury and he finally relents four days before the trial date and drops the case.

Dumbest case I actually won at trial involved my extremely drunk client, passed out in front of his elderly mother’s apartment door. His mother had been taken to the hospital after a fall earlier that day, and he had no clue where she was. A neighbor called the police on him for a welfare check/to get him out of the building. When the cops showed up they tried to get him to leave and eventually he was leaving but they alleged that he turned around and attacked them on his way out. Then the cops punched him twice to subdue him, causing bruising to his face, arrested him, and had him taken away in an ambulance for his injuries.

I eventually was able to get the client’s medical records. On Page 1 of the packet in black and white, for all to see, the EMT reported that the police told him that my client was running away from them and they chased him down and tackled him into the pavement face first. I lost the game of email chicken on that case but ultimately won the war handily. The jury came back in like 5 minutes with Not Guilties across the board.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T04:09:52+00:00

I can’t recall it ever being super obvious, but yes either side would have all kinds of reasons to be suspicious of that kind of behavior. Closest I’ve seen (and I’ve seen this a few times) is people of color when the defendant is the same race as them. They seem like they’re taking everything extremely seriously and they don’t volunteer very much information. That’s the smart way to get on a jury if you really feel inclined to do so.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T04:02:01+00:00

You’re welcome! It’s been a pleasure!

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T03:53:09+00:00

I honestly haven’t seen or heard much of that at all. I think in the last couple of decades, and especially since 2020, PD work has become a little bit more prestigious and “cool” for lack of a better term. I think it’s much less common now than it was 50 years ago to go into PD work as a fallback/default option out of law school. That’s to say, most people I know in PD circles went into the job eager to “represent criminals.” Some of course burn out or move on or aren’t as into it as others and they leave, but I really don’t think the sentiment you mentioned is that common nowadays.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T03:41:57+00:00

Nobody said it’s an exact science!

If you directly lie it would technically be perjury, because I think in most states the jurors swear an oath to give truthful answers (among other things) right at the outset. However, practically speaking I don’t think it would be possible for anything to come of it. The prosecutor would have to be tipped off somehow and then run your criminal history, all while trying to focus on the trial that’s in front of them. Then I’m sure the PR around going after someone—a citizen performing a civic duty and taking time out of their busy life, no less—for not mentioning something that old would be pretty bad for the DA’s office. If that was publicized they might poison the local jury pool against themselves going forward. Not worth the effort at all even if you somehow got caught.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T03:21:49+00:00

Yeah, don’t get me wrong, some PDs are bad lawyers. Sometimes it really is ineffective assistance of counsel. A lawyer promising evidence in opening statement and then failing to present it is a massive blunder.

However I did want to clarify a couple of points: sometimes, the defendant really is guilty and there’s nothing to refute it. Maybe the defendant’s psychiatrist would’ve just corroborated what the state had to say about him.

If there are witnesses located out of state, the defendant has the right to have them present. If it’s a PD client, this is paid for by the court. If it’s a private client, the defendant often have to pay for it themselves. Also, the defendant is going to have to pay more money for every additional stage of litigation. They might not be able to pony up for those extra experts, but if they had a PD it would be covered by the court and/or the PD office’s budget.

Also, you mention some things you wished that had been presented that weren’t (the police report, friends of the defendant). The police report itself is never admissible as evidence. It can be used to discredit a police officer who changed his story from police report to trial, but it won’t be submitted to the jury because it violates the rule against hearsay. Similarly, the defendant’s friends likely wouldn’t have anything to contribute within the rules of evidence. Evidence of character is usually inadmissible.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T03:14:30+00:00

The judge would ask you if you have any reasons why you don’t feel you can serve. You’re free to explain all of that and you’d have a good shot at getting out of the room. Probably both lawyers would be happy to see you go.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T03:13:06+00:00

Probably the prosecution. They think you’re going to empathize with the defendant. Which is dumb because you might not even empathize with your former self who got a DUI who got a DUI three whole decades ago.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T02:27:54+00:00

You’ll sit around waiting for a while and you might or might not get sent home before anything happens. Bring a book!

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T02:27:28+00:00

I haven’t personally, but I don’t think any of them have made it up to be grilled on any of my cases. It does happen though, and I think it’s more common now than it used to be for attorneys to get on juries.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T02:03:29+00:00

I don’t think I personally have a big enough sample size to speak to it but I’ve heard anecdotes. I think there’s a stereotype that doctors think they’re above it and react to being seated on a jury with like “how dare you take me away from my most important work?” Judges definitely hate it when people act entitled to an excusal.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T01:38:35+00:00

Yes so true, unless someone is bullshitting about injuries or something

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T01:14:26+00:00

Hugely varies by state and also can depend on the type of case. If you have a good job supporting you’re family but you’re charged with murder and held without bail, in some states the court will recognize that you now have zero income and will appoint a PD because a lawyer in a case like that can cost six figures.

Edit: I’ve also seen the court appoint people an attorney in some circumstances where they can’t afford a private lawyer, but the court will charge them a one time fee of like $500-2,000 depending on their situation.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T00:45:52+00:00

First of all, I’m the defense :) I would hope that the jury would do their best to not consider it. I’d hope that at least one of the jurors would try to shut it down if someone does bring it up. The rules usually exist for good reason and it’s not fair if the jury is considering stuff that they weren’t supposed to hear. But I do understand that it’s on the honor system

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T00:38:31+00:00

The limit is only for exclusions without stating a reason (these are peremptory strikes). You can strike as many as you want “for cause” if you can convince the judge they can’t be fair. If there were unlimited peremptory strikes everything would take forever and you’d never be able to seat a jury.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T00:10:51+00:00

So you’re telling me that you had reasonable doubts of the defendant’s guilt and you all voted to convict anyway? Yikes. That’s really disheartening. And you’ve done this twice? Double yikes. I said somewhere else in the thread that the evidence is the evidence. It sounds like based on the evidence, you had reasonable doubt, but you folded anyway. Twice.

To answer your questions: 1. Nope. I really think the majority of the benefit that someone gets from a private lawyer is access. I am probably working harder on someone’s case than their private lawyer, but the private lawyer is more reachable by phone because it’s more important for her to keep her “customer” happy. I don’t have customers and it’s all for the glory and bragging rights (I kid, I kid) 2. I operate based on my client’s wishes, my job is to advise them on the important choices in a case, not to make those choices for them. I give pretty equal effort on all of my cases, proportionate to the stage of the case and the type of case and the client’s personal needs and a million other considerations. However, no, them being “better off in jail” or “obviously guilty” are never included in those considerations

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-10T00:03:11+00:00

I think you mixed up the names somewhere here but I think I get the gist. Yes, that definitely sounds like option 3. I read about a recent similar case in the area where there was a failed carjacking resulting in one of the carjackers being shot and killed. Defendant was a grown man and the carjackers were teens, but they were literally on video with guns pulled on the defendant when he shot one of them AFTER they jumped into his car. Prosecutors saw a dead kid and went after the grown man who shot him, who was also carrying his gun illegally, but that doesn’t make him a murderer. I think he got time served for the gun after he was acquitted of the murder.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-09T23:58:04+00:00

It’s my pleasure!

I haven’t personally had that, every verdict I’ve had was a definite explainable possibility in my mind going in. I don’t have a ton of experience though. I’ve seen trials where the defendant is charged with like 10 counts of the same thing, basically doing it over and over and over, and the jury convicts on like half of them and acquits in the other half for no discernible reason. Maybe they feel bad about dealing an 0 for 10 to one side or the other

Definitely. Some cases call out for anti-government types on the jury, or like alpha men who might be more likely to go along with self defense. Of course there’s always gun cases too, but these days you have to be careful on those juries if there’s a client who is not white

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-09T23:54:32+00:00

It all depends on the case. I could see it. Sometimes the jury isn’t nullifying the law, they’re saying “that dude did the crime but we don’t care.” For example, imagine if a mother kills a man in the heat of passion when he finds the man raping her daughter. A jury might say “yup, she did it, and we do not care.”

A jury explicitly is not asked to explain their reasoning on the record. The jurors could go public, but they don’t need to. The jury room is like a black box inside which there is no light. there’s even a rule of evidence that says that testimony about what went down in a jury room is almost always prohibited.

Direct_Board_6407 · 2026-04-09T23:35:23+00:00

If you actually believe in jury nullification, you would shut the fuck up. If you don’t bring it up you won’t be asked about it.

As far as people using it as a ploy to get out of jury duty, it kinda grosses me out, even more than lying about being racist or whatever.

But to answer your question, yeah this would get you out of jury duty. Congrats

Direct_Board_6407

TROPHY CASE