» Entries tagged with "order"

Customer Service Self Help

I had the displeasure yesterday of spending quite some time in a court with about the most hostile staff around. As soon as I made it past the security guard, who was pretty friendly, I got nothing but scowls from the various clerks, who seemed to react to me with either anger that I dare interrupt their important work with my presence or concern that I might inconvenience them by asking them to do something for me. You’d think I was showing up to fire them or unleash some sort of horrible unpleasantness on the office. Lucky for them, I didn’t need any help prior to my hearing. They stopped glowering at me and returned to work as soon as I walked past their little area and into the prosecutor’s office. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Courts

Real Monsters

I represent an octogenarian cancer patient who is who is likely to die as a direct result of the actions of the State of Arizona. She isn’t on death row or anything like that. She isn’t even a defendant. She isn’t just a witness either, though she may end up one if the state has its way and gets to do what’s likely to kill her. That’s what I’m trying to stop. She’s actually an alleged victim. She’s one of a few victims in a single case, and she’s the only victim of a misdemeanor offense. The other counts are felonies with different named victims. She doesn’t want the case to proceed. She doesn’t want to participate. She can’t participate. Her doctor has said she is in … Read entire article »

Filed under: Victim's Rights

Thanks for the Heads-Up!

Yesterday morning, I was supposed to have an MVD hearing. An issue came up with my client being able to attend, however, so I faxed in a motion to continue. I called the MVD and confirmed they received it. It was somewhat last minute, but they had plenty of time to make a decision. Although they surely could have, the MVD didn’t bother calling me Wednesday to let me know what was going to happen with yesterday’s hearing. Instead, they left me a voice message at my office well before business hours yesterday morning in a voice mailbox for an extension that I’m not even sure how they reached. The message said the motion was denied and the hearing was going to proceed as scheduled. I ended … Read entire article »

Filed under: MVD Hearings

Another Brilliant Government Idea

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about state, county, and municipal budget problems. Both prosecutors and public defenders tell me about hiring freezes, forced unpaid vacations, and pay reductions. Judges seem hesitant to sign off on any order that will cost the court much money. One county’s superior court apparently has a new policy of authorizing no more than $200.00 in initial compensation for contract defense investigators, billable at a rate of $20.00 per hour. I’m sure that’s affected the quality of the investigators on the contract list considerably. That same court has a brilliant new policy involving orders. To give you some background, when filing many types of motions, defense lawyers will attach a proposed order with everything filled out except for the lines where … Read entire article »

Filed under: Courts, Government Rants

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