Wins and Losses are Relative

Most people who are charged with a criminal offense assume that winning their cases is either 1.) getting that "ridiculous" case dismissed, or 2.) winning at trial. In reality, neither of those truly represent what winning or losing is usually about in the criminal justice system.

You see, every case is different. Every defendant is different. There is no easier way to figure this out than to speak to a client that has spent about 15 minutes in the county jail. There are more "lawyers" per capita in the county jail than anyone on earth. It's practically Washington D.C.

You see I routinely speak to client who are sitting in county and who tell me their case should be: "Insert generic remedy here." This is because everyone in jail thinks their case is like the next guy's. Truth is, it's not. Today is a perfect example.

My client (one of two in a similar situation) found himself on the wrong end of Petition to Proceed to Adjudication of Guilt. This is the mechanism in Texas where the State seeks to essentially revoke someone's Deferred Adjudication Probation.

Five years ago, my client was charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child, a First Degree Felony which possessed the possibility of life in prison. On the morning of trial, my client pled to the Third Degree Felony of Injury to a Child; maximum of ten years. However, instead of getting any time in prison, he was placed on Deferred Adjudication Probation for five years. No sex offender registration. Nothing but take some classes and stay out of trouble. Easier said than done.

So here we are five years later. My client has screwed up. A lot. Big time. So the State seeks to essentially have his probation revoked and send him to prison. However, because he pled to the Third Degree, the most he could potentially face is ten years. Given the nature of his violations, this was a very real possibility.

So what is a win and what is a loss? In this case, given the circumstances of the case, a loss would be allowing the judge to impose the sentence after a hearing. Why? Because he would very likely have gotten all of the possible ten years. Does the five years he got seem like a bargain? Yes. In light of the circumstances.

At the beginning, my client wanted to bet put back onto probation. Initially, I thought this might be possible. However, as I discovered the the facts behind the revocation allegations I knew this simply wasn't going to happen. So then we shifted into another gear. How little time can he get.

My client only reluctantly agreed to the five year offer. Why? Well, first of all he could explain and apologize. The problem, that was going to come during a revocation hearing, which meant leaving the punishment up to the judge. Given the case and the facts; bad idea. So he agreed to five years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Corrections.

But this case illustrates that wins and losses are relative. What is a win to one person might not be a win to another. In this client's case, he finally agreed that the offer of five years was a "win" even if it wasn't a win by someone else's standards.

Comments

[Mark Bennett]

Today I was told by another lawyer that he had stolen the following line (in response to a client following a jailhouse lawyer's advice) from me:

"I guess I wasted seven years of my life in college and law school, since I apparently could have learned more law by spending 30 days in county jail."

I don't remember saying it.

[Matlock]

I bet you wish you had. I know II do.