Rotation #6: Legal (Criminal)

Of all my rotation destinations, three days are dedicated to law. The first was court, the second was civil, and today is criminal. My criminal rotation is very similar to that of the court rotation, except I spent it with Laine Sklar, the Town's assistant prosecuting attorney. This different perspective gave me further insight into the individual case files present at criminal misdemenor trials.

Case Files

Every defendant has a case file that Laine consults. It has the original police report, criminal history if applicable, and lab test results if blood has been taken. Today, charges ranged from driving on a suspended license, DUI, animal neglect,assault/disorderly conduct, to domestic violence, and shoplifting. Each file closely follows the proceedings of the charge. Typically the thicker the case file, the more interesting the read. ;)

Process

Laine is the first person a defendant speaks to when arriving at court. She calls them up by name, consults their file, defines the charges, discusses the next step in the legal process (asking the judge for an extention of time, dismissing a case, etc), and prepares the defendant to speak with the judge.

*The process with the judge is outlined in my court rotation.

Many of the afternoon cases today were commercial truck violations. Here are some interesting facts:

• DPS can randomly pull commercial trucks over for vehicle inspections.
• Because a large truck can pose a greater potential danger to other drivers on the freeway, commercial truck drivers have less rights, and therefore random inspections are allowed.
• Truck drivers are considered "professional drivers", and any violations that would be considered civil for a non-professional driver is actually considered a criminal violation. This includes charges as simple as not wearing a seatbelt.

 Trial by phone

If a defendant resides over 100 miles from the jurisdiction, they can request for a special packet from Laine that allows for a trial by phone. The judge will then call the defendant, and the trial will be conducted over speaker phone. This is helpful for people who do not live in the same jurisdiction that the charge occured in.

Reflection

It was very interesting to read the case files prior to watching the proceedings with the judge. This was the main difference between my rotation with the court and today's rotation with Laine. The police sobriety tests are fascinating, and the narratives are very detailed. The files gave me an idea on the prosecutor's perspective in the courtroom.