Lawyers, What's the Worst Case You've Had?

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[sublight]

Asking for an interpreter when you can speak the language isn’t necessarily a scam, tripping up a non-native speaker is really easy if you’re trying to do it. I can speak and understand Japanese well enough for work and daily life, but if I’m being asked questions by a person deliberately trying to get me to say the wrong thing, and I’ll go to jail for it, you can be damn sure I’m asking for an interpreter.

[NinjaBoy]

I really hate the "just look at how she's dressed, she was basically asking for it!" mentality that people use to justify SAing people...

[missharry]

I worked in a law firm and the senior partner was a highly respected criminal law specialist. He told me a story about taking his wife out to a well-regarded local restaurant and there was a table with several well-dressed but slightly boisterous older men. One of them looked round, saw him, stood up and greeted him warmly "Come and meet my pals, they'll like to meet you." My boss recognised him as a former client well known locally as a fence (British slang for a receiver of stolen goods). The man says to his friends, "Hey guys, this is my brief, Mr X. He's the best. Last time I was up I thought I was facing 5 years but he got it down to 2 with time off for good behaviour. I'd recommend him any day." My boss returned to his wife and the waiter brought over a bottle of champagne, "courtesy of the gentleman over there." Sadly we were unable to help him later when his house burned down and the insurance company refused to meet the claim. He had somehow failed to mention that it had a thatched roof which is a high fire risk...

[josephtaub]

Guy defending himself against a purse snatching "Did you get a good look at my face when I took your purse?" Ron White: "I had the right to remain silent---but not the capacity." Drunk in public charge

[luckyluciano]

That first story is just crazy, talk about digging your own grave.

[matthewryan]

Hope those kids got the worst punishment for what they did to the neighbors cat. Those losers don’t deserve forgiveness they deserve pain and suffering. If they aren’t punished and forced to feel like they are worthless they will grow up to be worthless

[Average_Panda]

My cousin’s uncle is actually his biological dad, apparently my aunt had broken off an engagement with her then fiancée and got with his brother, but she didn’t know she was pregnant, and we didn’t find out it was actually her original fiancée that was the father until recently when me and him got ancestry tests back. (I’m part Irish in case you care)

[tarrker]

I've spoken a dozen languages in my life and have been paid to sit in on court cases and hearings. The translator thing is crazy. Usually painful to watch, although, I have seen some guys pull it off. What gets me is that, it's often super obvious to everyone when they're doing just for some extra time or, something. That said, most of the people asking for a translator that speak both languages well are just afraid of being coaxed into saying something incriminating. My native language is English but I grew up speaking both Spanish and English. I would still definitely ask for a translator if a Spanish speaking court was trying to put me away.

I've always said that there's just no accounting for lingo. :)

[mionfel]

17:00 That's a travesty that someone implicates themselves like that and are protected by some bullshit technicality.
And some people wonder why so many have so little faith in the justice system.

[jeffmccrea]

I had a friend 20+ years ago who committed a moderate, non-violent crime but got probation. He violated his probation literally by accident. A girl had a restraining order against him. Before gas pumps had card readers, he stopped at a gas station, bought gas and went in to pay for it and whose behind the counter but the girl. Catch 22. He runs, violates himself for theft and loses his license or he pays for the gas and violates himself. He did the right thing and paid for the gas.
His lawyer called me saying that if he had credible character witnesses, he might get his probation back. I told his lawyer that he was a good enough friend that I would trust him to babysit my young kids but that I wouldn't lie for him. The lawyer asked me what I meant. I told him that I had direct eye witness knowledge that he had done the same things in the past but with different people. If the prosecutor asked me direct questions about his past history, I would have to tell the truth as my family, freedom and sobriety depended on it.
Then I asked the lawyer how does he defend someone who he knows is guilty without lying to the court? Not morally but practically speaking. He said you sit, keep your mouth shut and let the state present it's case. Then you try to poke enough holes in their case using alternative possibilities and hope you sow enough doubt in the jury's mind to get an innocent verdict.
You say you saw him here but are you sure it was him? How good is your eyesight? Were you wearing your glasses that day? Would it surprise you if I told you that he was across town on that day and at that time? In that jurisdiction back then, you were allowed to infer false alternatives as possibilities so long as you didn't present them as hard facts.

[deltaflamestorm]

19:46 drowning the three monsters is the only acceptable punishment

[jordanvangundy]

7:34 I get a lot of people getting involved in the case for the first time after we have a default judgment, have sent post-judgment discovery, they don’t respond, we get an order compelling discovery, they don’t respond, and then they get served with our motion for contempt asking the judge to put them in jail until they respond to our discovery requests.

[badlydrawnturtle]

"...you don't defend clients, you make prosecutors do their job."
With that attitude, I wonder how many falsely-accused get lawyers who don't believe them.

[TheGreatDane-uimc]

Stories I would like to read would be about people who hated/loved someone but realized how wrong they were about that person.

Maybe make them two different subjects (loving the person vs hating the person), so one doesn’t dominate the other.

[brianm]

I'm a Social Security Disability lawyer. I was assigned a client by my firm who had worked until the month before the hearing. Step one of disability is having stopped working at/before your onset date. I told him he should withdraw the claim, but he refused. I asked the firm if we could fire him as a client, but we can't do that within 30 days, so I was on autopilot. He was denied.

[gerstein]

The old pervert is probably one of the stupidest and not even for his idiotic confession. His lawyers got him out on bail and then he announced to the court in front of the judge, the prosecution, and the jury that he was planning to jump bail and flee the country. Talk about idiocy

[exxor]

That story about the teens drowning that cat... My heart sank and I felt sick to my stomach. I've not ever had that happen or seen that happen, but my brain goes into imaginary overdrive and it makes me feel like I've seen it happen before. Some humans are monsters...

[j.tgrooms]

Those 3 guys at the beginning of Better Call Saul

[Katt]

I'm sure the prosecutors of the Darrel Brooks trial would argue that was their worst case. The Judge's too.

[LanxPenzenpepper]

It's kinda annoying the a genuine bonafide criminal can easily get away given the right circumstances and lawyer...

Like that guy who Literally ratted himself out to the cops for them to even realize it's him and the guy who thought he was pardoned 😂