What would you do?!

So, I'm sitting at the reference desk and I see this guy hanging across the way over by the Federal Digest.  Normally, I go up to people who appear lost in the stacks but this guy wasn't lost.  He was watching me.  Basically, a stalker in the same room.

Three hours later, when no one is around (or within earshot), guy comes up to me and in a low, rasping hiss of a voice he asks, "I have a body in the back of my trunk.  What should I do?"  This is not the funkiest question I've ever been asked - but it was the funkiest of the week, to be sure.  Thing is, a quick assessment told me this was not a hardened criminal - "things" just happen.

Anyway, my first thought is to get this guy some representation.  So, we hop online to  Martindale.com to look for a criminal attorney.  Mardindale.com (the print version, of which, is called Martindale Hubble) is a pay-for-play database of attorneys who are very good at what they do.  It also has a rating system allowing colleagues and clients to rate the attorneys.  Get a low review long enough and they'll kick you out of the club.  Anyway, 5 minutes online and we were able to (discretely) find an attorney with which he was comfortable.

Then, knowing my library collection, as I do, I walked him over and we take a look at:

• Substantive Criminal Law (West)
• Crimes of Violence: Homicide and Assault (West)
• Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment (West)
• Criminal Defense Techniques (Lexis)
• California Criminal Law: Procedure and Practice (CEB; and the Bible on criminal law in California)

We get a whole lot of different people in our library.   Whatever your story might be, know that your local county law Librarian(s) know that this legal stuff can really take it out of you and have resources at our fingertips of which most people only dream.  Heck, Librarians can do what takes mere mortals hours to accomplish.  So, why not head on over to your local county law Librarian and let them help you find your way back to a calmer state of zen.