Accept the consequences

Years ago, I worked as a law clerk.  One day I interviewed a client who had, for the last 10 years, been residing in prison for a double homicide.  

What was interesting is that when I had parked my car and started walking toward the front gate, I met a number of parents of incarcerated people.  

Every parent swore that their kid was innocent and had been set-up. Inside the prison, every single prisoner claimed they were innocent and had been set-up. 

Our client had the same story.  Innocent and set-up.  Really? You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and you are innocent?  Smoking gun found two feet away with your fingerprints and gun powder residue on your hands!?  Still innocent?!? 

Sad that everyone has the same story.  I didn't do it - it was the other guy (that they never found or caught).  The police set me up.  It couldn't be that they actually did the crime.

Maybe the nature of the crime was so heinous that they can't accept the fact that they could have done it or maybe they think they're sooooo very clever that the concept of their slipping up suggests that it must have been a set-up.  Always the other guy.

Such was the story I got the other day from a young-ish couple.  Seems couple had been arrested for shoplifting under California Penal Code Section 484. Specifically, store security caught them walking out of the store with hundreds of dollars of merchandise.  

Seems that couple were not actually going to steal the merchandise. No, they were going to try out the products at home and bring them back when they were done like they'd seen people do on YouTube.  Who cares that they had been arrested for shoplifting multiple times in the past - this time was different.

Uh huh.  Funny but the police didn't buy they're story. The judge didn't believe them either at their arraignment. In fact, no one believed them and they were at their wits end.  Would no one believe them? They pleaded with me and asked me for forgiveness. 

As my dad would have said, "Humph, tra la!"

First, I'm not a priest - really not the guy to whom you should confess your sins.  Second, I don't really care what you did. I'm not here to judge or prosecute you (and don't have the power to commute sentences).  

What I can do is suggest legal resources you can use to help you mount a defense. And so, with the power of an omnipotent law Librarian, I called forth Grabthar's hammer and the suns of Worvan and suggested couple take a look at:

• California Criminal Law: procedure and practice (CEB)
• Criminal Defense Techniques (Lexis)
• California Criminal Discovery (Lexis)
• California Guide to Criminal Evidence (McClure)
• Prosecutorial Misconduct (Lexis)
• The Fourth Amendment Handbook (ABA)
• Search & Seizure (TR)

Yep, sure a lot of people out there who think the world is out to get them.  Problem is, if you're going to engage in activities that put you on the government's radar, odds are you're going to get got.  

When that happens, just know that your local county law library is open and ready to help you free your self (or mind, as the case may be).