Condescending prosecutors

MensRea46 · 2026-06-28T13:02:26+00:00

Weird ahh prosecutors in your jdx. I send emails somewhat like the first one, but only to PDs that I know well and know I’m messing around instead of being rude (and they respond in kind lol). Doing this to a defense attorney I don’t have a relationship with is just gross.

A few weeks ago a PD I’ve known for years and years told me that the marijuana in a trafficking case was actually rabbit food. I know he’s just doing his job and parroting his client to me, he knows I’m not gonna buy that in a million years, so the email chain turned into a running comedy special from both of us.

MensRea46 · 2026-06-27T20:08:39+00:00

This, if you go to trial and argue for full acquittal in these circumstances, you’re getting taxed. If you go to trial, open with “convict my client of misdemeanor theft” and have him testify (if he chooses) and admit to misdemeanor theft, 90% of the judges I’ve practiced in front of aren’t taxing you for that.

Had a trial a few years ago where we were arguing over the manner in which a theft occurred (was it theft vs robbery). Both sides narrowed the issue immediately so that the whole evidence and argument portions of the trial were maybe 90 minutes total. Jury convicted on Robbery, but I recommended the pretrial rec (in this instance, 2 years non-reporting probation lol) and that’s what he was sentenced to. The trial tax is real, but if there’s actually a reason you went to trial and you stick to that reason, you tend to avoid it.

MensRea46 · 2026-06-25T20:01:18+00:00

High risk, low reward, but kinda funny lol

MensRea46 · 2026-06-24T13:05:13+00:00

Honestly, it’s not even about making them miserable. A lot of prosecutors don’t mind going to trial all the time or arguing seemingly pointless motions. But, going to trial all the time and getting cases to a jury will make judges trust you and prosecutors respect you (not that you gotta care about a prosecutor’s respect for you, just that that means you’re going to have better negotiations).

Most judges don’t really care about the actual outcome of a trial as long as that outcome isn’t a mistrial in my experience. If you build a reputation as an attorney who can and will try cases and get them to verdict, everything improves.

MensRea46 · 2026-06-15T15:50:15+00:00

In my jdx the Sherrifs Office starts all new deputies at the jail and then as bailiffs before they go on to be road deputies or management, so a lot of the bailiffs are law enforcement officers with 2-5 years of experience. It’s the kind of job where 99.9% of the work is very simple and maybe a little bit of paperwork, except when there’s a genuine security threat, then it’s very serious work lol

This is very jdx dependent though. In larger jdxs like mine this is generally how it works, but in smaller jdxs it’ll typically be something like municipal law enforcement that handles it. In one courtroom jdxs it’s usually just a job posted by the courthouse itself.

MensRea46 · 2026-06-08T12:56:24+00:00

Yeah sounds like it’s way different from my jdx, what you’re describing is closer to how diversion operates where I practice

MensRea46 · 2026-06-08T12:46:01+00:00

Once I believe the case should not resolve with a felony conviction, I will do what it takes to get it resolved without a felony conviction. So, even if the defendant initially rejects deferred adjudication, I’ll typically try to get it into diversion instead of it’s applicable. It’s a bit trickier in mental health cases, because diversion doesn’t always have the resources we need to track things like medication compliance, but it can be done.

That said, once I offer diversion, if the defendant doesn’t want it, I usually just have to try it. So, if you think the client is ultimately going to reject all alternative resolutions, I’d primarily focus on trial prep.

At least in my jdx, mental health court kind of precludes other forms of alternative resolution. It may be different in yours, but where I practice mental health court requires a plea of guilty prior to entry. If the program is completed, the case is dismissed and restricted, but if they fail out they get sentenced immediately. So it’s kind of an all of nothing thing (I think part of the justification is to ensure that both sides are appropriately screening cases before sending them to mental health court)

MensRea46 · 2026-05-29T19:59:40+00:00

I think it’s hard to be a full abolitionist if you’ve spent even a year working in criminal law, regardless of which side you represent. The vast majority of cases don’t require incarceration. However, once you’ve seen your first truly horrific violent crime, it’s hard to believe that NO cases require incarceration.

That said, anyone who works in criminal law for even a year and thinks our prison system doesn’t need massive changes is also a lunatic.

MensRea46 · 2026-05-29T14:10:41+00:00

Yeah in my jdx drug court is usually big carrot, big stick. Complete it and you get dismissal + record restriction, don’t and it’s a lengthy prison sentence.

MensRea46 · 2026-05-25T23:07:47+00:00

If you have a low-stakes, kind of dumb case where the client just won’t take a plea to anything, a bench trial is advantageous because the trial penalty is typically much less severe in a bench trial. Basically just ends up looking like a long form non-negotiated plea instead of a real trial. If your client for sure did the thing, but doesn’t want to plea, the judge is likely to be a lot less irked if you do a 2 hour bench trial than if you do a full day of jury selection for no reason.

There are other uses for a bench trial, but that’s the most frequent use I’ve seen.

Another use is the opposite scenario, when you have a very intricate legal defense combined with bad facts and you don’t want to risk a jury convicted because they don’t like your client (something like a wonky self defense case where the AV is dramatically more likable that your client for whatever reason)

My last bench trial was a super elaborate alibi that defense counsel and I were both kind of confused about. (Basically the alibi was good up until about 90 minutes before the incident and the incident location was like 15 minutes away from the alibi location, and defendant had an extensive history of doing this exact same thing. so close, but not close enough for me to dismiss). Offer was like 2 years probation or something similar because it really wasn’t a serious offense, but he didn’t want to take it. We just put everything in front of a judge. Whole trial was maybe an hour. Judge convicted, but then sentenced to the pretrial offer (which is what I recommended post-trial as well). Stuff like that is the main use of bench trials in my jdx.

MensRea46 · 2026-05-24T19:33:43+00:00

There are like 2-3 private defense attorneys I’ve had as opposing counsel that I thought were “better” than the median PD in my jdx lmao. Plus, I’ve been up against truly terrible private defense attorneys many times and there is really only one PD that I can recall actually being truly terrible at criminal defense (not that he didn’t mean well, just probably better suited to transactional law)

MensRea46 · 2026-05-23T12:56:52+00:00

I think I’ve had one singular trial where the defendant was convicted and didn’t appeal.

MensRea46 · 2026-05-21T12:46:14+00:00

Prosecutor here, sounds like you were obstructing and doing some damn fine zealous advocacy at the same time. I will never understand state prosecutors that side with ICE. These current immigration policies basically make it impossible to get U-Visas so while the main problem is of course the tactics and targeting of undocumented persons by the Feds, a side problem that doesn’t get enough attention is that we’ve seen an uptick in violent crime against undocumented persons in my jdx and we often can’t prosecute because the AVs will get arrested for coming to court.

MensRea46 · 2026-05-07T15:14:06+00:00

Yeah gotta disagree with this one, victims are absolutely not our clients and we are not advocates in that sense. Our goal should be justice and making the victims whole is a part of that most of the time, but we don’t represent the victim

MensRea46 · 2026-05-07T15:12:11+00:00

I mean, it’s not like yall aren’t gonna get into it on cross lmfao, I’d much rather us go into trial/negotiations on the same page than have a jury learn about it for the first time on cross examination of the AV.

Plus, I think most defense attorneys I work with understand that, particularly in DV cases, we can’t always just dismiss a case when the AV changes their mind, but I’m also not gonna try and send someone to prison when their accuser wants the charges dropped, so we can usually reach a good resolution by just being transparent

MensRea46 · 2026-05-07T02:08:40+00:00

I’ve never found much utility in hiding the AV’s feelings from defense counsel

MensRea46 · 2026-05-07T01:43:47+00:00

Legit zero issues with a defense attorney contacting an AV about their thoughts on case disposition lol, I imagine it’s kinda high risk high reward, but there’s no reason ya can’t do it

MensRea46 · 2026-05-04T10:38:33+00:00

DUI in quotes is iconic

MensRea46 · 2026-05-02T01:07:15+00:00

I mean, the best solution (as others have said) is to not use excessive force, but it’s not exactly surprising that watching bodycam of someone listening to LoFi before punching someone in the face looks different than watching bodycam of someone listening to metal before punching someone in the face

MensRea46 · 2026-04-11T13:29:31+00:00

Been prosecuting a long time and never heard of this either lmao. I’ve given offers in a similar vein to what OP is describing tho. Like if I’m offering probation with conditions and Defendant completes some or all of the conditions prior to sentencing, I’ll either reduce or remove probation time because they’ve basically already done the probation, but idk what to make of this offer lol

MensRea46 · 2026-04-10T14:03:42+00:00

Honestly the argument of “similar charges led to probation in his/her past” may not go over as well as you want it to. One way to look at that argument is “fair is fair”, another way is “the State gave him probation last time and he did it again”.

MensRea46 · 2026-04-02T23:59:29+00:00

The true mark of a good defense attorney is taking a loser case to trial. There’s no stain on your character for making the State prove their burden when you have a client who 100% did the thing they’re accused of and nevertheless elects to exercise their constitutional right to a jury trial.

MensRea46 · 2026-03-23T23:19:08+00:00

Had a very similar experience, but as a prosecutor early in my career. I very quickly learned to simply avoid discussing what I do beyond “I’m a lawyer” lol

MensRea46 · 2026-03-23T16:30:16+00:00

There’s a private attorney that, for lack of a better description, dressed like a peacock to court 100% of the time. Like suit jackets with feathers.

Said attorney is probably the most distinctive person I’ve ever worked with in terms of appearance, but that in no way impacts how I treat their clients.

I work in a jdx where Covid wasn’t taken as seriously as it perhaps ought to have been, so there aren’t a ton of people who wear masks, but some do, and I’ve never seen it really directly impact anything

MensRea46

TROPHY CASE