Post #3: Internship Now

Including today, I've completed 48 hours worth of my internship--92 hours to go! I've moved on from reviewing and summarizing the case to summarizing conduct relevant to one of the counts on the indictment. I wish I could go into more detail! I think I may be able to, but I don't want to find out too late that I shouldn't have put something online when I already have. I've found a lot of co-defendants that say things about our defendant, but very little concrete proof, such as a money or paper trail. To be honest, I'm starting to understand that although over five years of investigation, including recordings and testimony from undercover informants, may look convicting, the prosecution has little to go on regarding our defendant--he's not even in the same state as this activity! Furthermore, they are alleging that this club is a criminal organization, which is an unfounded generalization and we can simply say what the group's intended purpose is and it's our word against the prosecution's. What can they do from there?

Yesterday my supervisor handed me an appeal of and motion for de novo (over again) review of the magistrate's ruling to the revoke bond issued by the district of Maryland to read over so that I'll know how to write it when and if she should ask me to in the future. Did I mention that I'm learning bits and pieces of Latin?

I think a component of this case that I may not have been as aware of in other cases are ethical implications of criminal defense. When I tell people that I am interning for a law office that deals with lots of criminal defense cases, they are often skeptical. I normally hear something along the lines of, "I bet you deal with all sorts in that field," or, "Why would you want to defend criminals?" which is interesting to me. The more I deal with this and other criminal cases at the office, the more I see that the category "criminal defense" is as condemning as people's attitudes about that branch of law. Granted, there are guilty criminals, but more often than not (in my experience), the "criminal" is not as guilty as he or she seems. When people ask me, "why did (defendant) get away with such a low sentence? It's obvious that he/she did it." Well, no, it's not. Imagine how skewed our justice system would be if we allowed hearsay or incomplete evidence, or assumptions into the courtroom. Our legal system isn't perfect, but I'm beginning to see it as a justice system constantly under construction. Every case that comes before the court is a way to push for continuous improvement in the legal system. Although it is not foolproof, there should not be an exception to, "innocent until proven guilty--" however unpopular a defendant may be, our rights, thank goodness, are universal to all citizens of our country.

For some background, I looked up a video that was featured in a TV series on YouTube about the group that this case is about. Hopefully I'll be able to put that in my internship presentation at the end of this coming semester, seeing as that video is public record--anyone can see it. I'm beginning to understand that in order to ensure the accuracy and purpose of each assignment fully, I need to know what the context is, and although I have plenty of that in my reading, watching the allegations from other points of view can help me learn how the prosecutor may take this case and respond accordingly in my writing. Ultimately, I become more persuasive from learning the facts of the case background and other people's points of view.

Either way, I know that this case will still be ongoing after spring semester, so until my boss okays it, I will just have to discuss general parts of assignments. Sorry!