Advocating For Your Client

I previously wrote a post about defense attorneys being the most unpopular person in the room. A defense attorney has to be comfortable with that. Their job is to advocate for their client. The cold stares in the courtroom must be disregarded. Your client is your priority.

I represented a man earlier this week in a 50b restraining/protective order civil hearing. A women was accusing my client of acts of violence that would entitle her to a protective order. These are serious allegations. Not only does a protective order get placed in a national registry, but the judge can order the defendant to enroll and complete a batterers treatment  program, award attorneys fees and even structure child visitation if they are related to the case. We had a strong case with good evidence to rebut her claims.  The judge refused to grant the women's request and the case was dismissed. My client was happy. Others in the courtroom were not.

Later in the week I was back in criminal court with a different client. My client was accused of assaulting a police officer at the jail. I felt the video exonerated my client. The judge found her not guilty of the assault on the police officer. As far as being the most unpopular person in the room;  police officers in Mecklenburg County are subpoenaed twice a month for cases they have worked on. They come to court on their court day and sit in rows on the side of the courtroom. They wait for their cases to be heard and watch the court proceedings. I felt the stare of many in the courtroom while I cross examined the officer regarding the issue which I believed was excessive force used by the officer.

The job of the prosecutor is to represent the state. They are not there to advocate for the accused. A defense attorney won't win a popularity contest, but that is not their job. Their job is to advocate for their client, even though it might be unpopular.

Criminal Law Updates Provided by the Law Office of  Carilyn Ibsen PLLC (888)543-2427

21st Century Bullying

I wrote recently on the issue of cyber bulling and how the law will respond to it. As a criminal defense attorney practicing in Mecklenburg Courts, I have definitely seen a dramatic increase in assault, battery, domestic violence, and communicating threats cases that originated with an internet post, Facebook post or text message. I have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in 50b protective order/restraining order hearings in Mecklenburg District Court. A recent incident with a family member of a friend in another state gave me further thought on this issue.

'John' is a 13 year old freshman in high school. As with many of his peers, he has an active Facebook account and can be found communicating through friends 30 feet away via text message. John was over at a friend's house one afternoon with his laptop. His Facebook page was open. He left the room for a short period of time. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when he left that day. John returned home to find family members calling and posts to his Facebook account multiplying. One of John's 'friends' posted the following to John's Facebook page-

I can't take it anymore. I am GAY  and I don't care what any of you think...

The post was removed. However, a high school freshman boy was left to explain this post to his friends and family. John handled this very well but it gave me cause to think about whether the law should criminally punish the act of hurt feelings or embarrassment. Should we only reserve damage to reputation to the civil law arena? Criminal law was designed to punish an injury. Most of the time it's designed to punish a physical injury or the threat of a physical injury, as done in a communicating threats case. However, technology has forced society to reconsider using criminal law to punish public embarrassment to an individual.

Hypothetically, if John decided to retaliate and post a false statement about the Facebook hacker, do we punish John the same as the hacker? Wouldn't a criminal defense lawyer argue John's culpability is less than the hacker? This is a very difficult area of the law. I'm not sure how the legislature will respond to it. It just seems to be a very different world than when I was in high school and the common prank was taping 8.5 x 11 pictures to school lockers on a friend's birthday.

Criminal Law updates provided by Law Office of Carilyn Ibsen PLLC Carilyn Ibsen (888)543-2427