How We Sleep At Night

A friend of mine e-mailed this story about a big murder case that has gone to trial in Sacramento, California. I'm hoping you can read it, although I've saved it a copy in text format that I can email to you if it becomes unavailable.

The defendant: James Schanrock

The Charges: Murder & Burglary

The Story (From the Sacramento Bee):

The trial of James Allen Schanrock, a 25-year-old convicted burglar accused of murder and burglary, started on Wednesday. If convicted, Schanrock faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Steve Grippi told jurors that Dennis Conrad, 38, had been shot once in the hand and 10 times in the back as he tried to flee. His killer packed up the couple's belongings and drove away in Conrad's car, Grippi said.

The assistant chief deputy district attorney for Sacramento County told jurors that Conrad, a stockbroker with Morgan Stanley, was an avid hunter who kept guns in his house. He said Schanrock found those weapons, including hunting rifles and two powerful revolvers, and fired again and again at Conrad as he was running through the house.

"He shot him with his own guns," Grippi said....

Hmmm...this is really making me re-think having guns at home.

The story goes on...

...Schanrock's lawyer, public defender Sharon Cammisa, told jurors in her opening remarks that police had failed to conduct a thorough investigation.

She admitted that Schanrock had broken into other area houses, but said authorities had made a "huge leap" when they accused Schanrock of murder.

"Once the guns were found in the water, the police stopped looking," she said. "Minds were made up. The work was done...."

These are just a couple of selected pieces from the story which is overall a pretty solid read. Its really captures the horror and emotions involved with murder cases and their trials. Worth the read. Obviously, the case does not looks so hot for Schanrock and if he committed the crime of course he deserves Blah-blah-blah...

The reason for this post is that I'm interested by what people who don't work in the criminal justice system on a daily basis think about crimes and the defenses used in criminal cases....our jury pool. If you look down to the bottom of the article, there is a section for comments....lots of them. As of yesterday when I started this post, there were only 11 but I'm sure its grown a bit since then.

I'm only going to comment on two of them.

The first one:

Gawond at 5:45 AM PST Thursday, June 28, 2007 wrote:

How do public defenders sleep at night?

18 out of 27 people found this comment helpful.
Was this comment helpful? Yes No

The follow-up to Gawond's comment by some other member of the public:

Rowdygirl at 7:53 AM PST Thursday, June 28, 2007 wrote:

Answer to Gawond

Public defenders sleep at night knowing that their job is essentail to the justice process. Due process, a trial by a jury, innocent until proven guilty.Don't get me wrong; I am as bothered by this alleged criminal's actions as much as you are. But please, don't shoot the messenger. The PD is doing the job he's supposed to be doing. May God bless all those public defenders out there who keep the balance in our justice system.

Thank G*d for people like Rowdygirl because she is right-fucking-on!

From my own personal experience I do have trouble sleeping sometimes.

I feel guilty, I feel lonely, I feel sad, and I feel angry.

These aren't emotions I get from hating or disliking a client. These feelings usually come from feeling like I know I could have done more on a case if we'd just had more time and resources.

Most of the time everything works out but on occassion, lives are destroyed and I don't sleep.

If I Was A Newb In This Biz...

THIS WOULD BE THE MOST AWESOME OPPORTUNITY!

NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC DEFENDER
INVESTIGATOR INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
SUMMER 2007

Oh, to be young again, with no responsibilities with the ability to go where the wind takes me.

Damn it.

Popped Collars, Truck Nutz, And The Defense Investigator

***UNACCEPTABLE LANGUAGE AND IMAGES WARNING***

I've seen some real amazing and fucked up shit in my short time on this earth.

I've seen dead people.

Yup, dead people. Not walking around or anything, but you know...laying on the ground all fucked up with holes, pools of blood, all that stuff. Not every day but a few times.

I've seen hurt people.

Yup, hurt people. Physically and emotionally. People that have lost family members and people that have lost everything they've ever owned in their lives all in just a few minutes. People that are still alive after a horrific accident wishing they were dead. You know, hurt people.

I've seen and touched over $100,000 in cash...then put it in a briefcase.

Yup, I always wondered what that much money would look like and one day I saw it. It was not a big a pile of money as I had anticipated. Nothing illegal or unethical...just business. I only wish that it was MY cash.

I've seen the most beautiful sunset.

Yup, I've seen what I consider to be the most beautiful sunset that I'm certain I'll ever get the opportunity to see while standing on a private beach in Malibu. I'm not a person that believes ANY beach should be privately owned but this sunset was the most amazing and spectacular thing to behold and being on a secluded beach made it only more beautiful. I mean, there were half dressed women who did "part-time" work as catalog models playing volleyball with a few of my friends directly behind me and I didn't even notice until AFTER the sun had disappeared below the Pacific. Yeah, that amazing. Well, the chicks were pretty amazing too but that's for another blog post.

Quite honestly, none of these stories even begin to scratch the surface of the things I've experienced in my life. As bad as some of the experiences were, I think I learned a little about myself and what I'm made of each time I was presented with these scenarios. I have lived with no regrets and no interest in ever taking anything back...until today.

This morning, I went to my local coffee place and as I walked inside, I saw the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life. It was an aberration of nature...something that whichever G*d you believe in, he should have DESTROYED the minute it was concocted and set loose upon this magnificent planet we call Earth. It is something that would make the average person fall to their knees and say, Why lord!!! Why have you forsaken me? Why, oh why have you done this to me and to this fellow human being? Why have you allowed this freak of nature to exist on the same plane of existence as Man?! Why!?!

Luckily, I'm a just one step above the average person, and I had the wherewithal to pull out my trusty camera phone and take a picture of the following:

*****WARNING TO MY LOYAL READERS: THIS PHOTO IS WORSE THAN THE LANGUAGE PRECEDING AND FOLLOWING IT. PLEASE KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AWAY***

The dreaded POPPED collar!

After you've wiped away the tears from your eyes, and called your mother and father to tell them that you love them, please continue reading (gasp) if you can.

I come from a time that this look was unacceptable on any man...gay or straight...especially a man over the age of 18 years-old. You do get a waiver if you are younger than 18. I'll chalk it up to little real-life experience but when you get as old as this guy appears to be AND you wear the dreaded (gasp) Popped Collar...well, lets just say that a brain injury is the ONLY possible explanation.

For my friends and regulars that read this...who DO wear Popped Collars regularly or only on special occasions...well, first off, I'm sorry for you. Secondly, you should know that I can't be friends with you anymore and don't continue reading my mostly ignorant blog because, well, I won't...I can't...stop hating on the Popped Collar...ever.

Just to bring you all down from what is clearly an emotional subject for everyone, I want you to know that I did see something fantastic today.

In the past, I've posted stories about this totally trashy trend of putting fake testicles on trucks. These strange creations are commonly referred to as Bumper Nutz, Trucksicles, Truck Nutz, Nutsack's-On-A-Truck or even Bumper Ballz, to name just a few slang terms.

Well, I've only seen these fake, gigantic testicles on regular non-commercial trucks but today, I witnessed them attached to something much, much larger and I hope fear that it may be a growing trend:

SEMI-TRUCKSICLES

I'm curious to get reports from other readers and possibly find out how far this strange phenomenon has spread.

---------------------

Yeah, this is a goofy post. I know. I feel good today. Refreshed even. I feel like I'm ready to take on the world. I was in a bit of a funk for a bit and even received a few emails from friends who thought I was going to jump off a bridge...or at least a tall fence or picnic table. For the record, I've never been near that point. Real life stresses are something I have always had trouble with and finding ways to cope have been my weak point. I'm a work in progress, what can I say?

As always...more later.

Future Hamburger

I'm going to get steamrolled.

Well, maybe thats a bit dramatic.

It feels like I'm about to get steamrolled. It feels like I have a boatload of pressures and demands that are always just two steps (seconds) away from running my ass over. I guess I like to think that I have absolutely no control over any of it, but I think any stresses in my life are mostly all my own doing.

Its been a rough few weeks. Mentally, I'm just coming back to what I consider my normal routine. I haven't wanted to work out, I've been eating like crap and I feel like I've been so damned sensitive about ANYTHING someone happens to tell me (family or co-workers), becoming either grouchy or hurt...not necessarily in that order. Male PMS hit again?

Naahhh.

Basically, I know I would be a pain in the ass to work with in the mood I've been in, so to make it easier for my co-workers and friends, I've purposely fallen off the face of the planet. I haven't hung out with them, I avoid parties, get togethers, or ANYTHING involving any extended contact with humans.

I just have to get through this funk! It's frustrating. I'm coming to terms with the status of my love life which is just painful to even think about sometimes and I'm working on repairing a few friendships that I was partly responsible for destroying years ago.

Sometimes I think its too much to handle and deal with. Then I smack myself around and remember it could be worse.