Don't get legal advice from bondsman

If you are arrested, the first thing you will invariably do is try to get out of jail. That’s a good idea. (Remember not to talk to the cops or give a statement.)

You’ll call a bondsmen. That’s a good idea, too, because he’ll arrange for your release from jail. Unfortunately, there’s a downside. The bondsmen may try to tell you how to handle your case and that’s bad. That’s practicing law without a license.

Why do we care? Because bondsmen aren’t lawyers and the advice they give people as they bond them out is often so wrong as to endanger you.

Why? It’s simple. Bondsmen think that because they work in the criminal justice system – and often have years of experience writing bonds – that they know the law itself.

They don’t.

Let me give you an example: A guy who hired me for a possession of marijuana charge recently was told by his bondsmen to “just go to court and plead guilty because you’ll just get probation.” The guy didn’t want to go back to jail, because he’d get fired, and didn’t want to pay for a lawyer. So, he figured he’d take the bondsman’s advice and he’d be ok.

Thankfully, the guy’s wife had him seek out a lawyer and he called me. During our initial consultation he told me what the bondsman had said. I had heard it before. When I explained to him the ramifications of a guilty plea to marijuana, he was stunned.

I told him that in Alabama a drug conviction suspends your driver’s license. He was shocked. “But I have to drive to work and pay my bills.” I told him a drug conviction would prevent him from receiving some federal benefits. I also told him a drug conviction would prevent him from living in subsidized house. I told him that all employers now background check their employees and a drug conviction could impact his job. I told him a drug conviction requires mandatory assessment and attending and completing a drug treatment program.

“But, I’m guilty,” he said. “What do I do?”

I explained to him that there is a difference between being culpable and being guilty. The word “guilty” means you’ve been convicted by a court. The word culpable means you’re legally at fault, but that doesn’t mean you have to be found guilty. Every single day I help culpable people avoid being guilty people – with dismissals, diversions, pre-trial interventions, dismissals and not guilty verdicts. Bondsmen can’t do any of that.

Bondsmen don’t know how the system works, don’t have law degrees and a license to practice law, but they want to run their mouths and give people incorrect “legal advice.” They must think this makes them look “in the know.” Others want your money and know if you pay a lawyer you’ll struggle to pay the bonding company’s fee.

All bondsmen know how to do is fill out the bonding paperwork that gets a person out of jail.

Period.

If you’re arrested you need to talk to at least three good lawyers and then pick from those three which your gut instinct tells you is the one for you. Rely on your lawyer’s expertise to get you out of trouble, not your bondsman.

Oh, and I've been asked by several lawyers to add this to this blog: Bondsmen should never recommend lawyers to anyone, and vice-versa. You can't trust a bondsman's recommendation for a lawyer, as some lawyers give illegal kickbacks to bondsmen for the referral. This is illegal but it happens. The reverse is true, also. Some bondsmen give lawyers illegal kickbacks as well.

When a bondsman is asked for a referral for a lawyer or a lawyer is asked for a referral for a bondsman, the answer should always be, "I'm not allowed to make any recommendation by law." Any other answer should be considered as suspect.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Legalizing "sin" would benefit Alabama greatly.

Legalizing “sin” would benefit Alabama greatly.

The State of Alabama is constantly in a budget crisis. As a state, we are last or nearly last in every economic and life-style indicator because we’re broke. More people in Alabama are on welfare than work. We have little local revenue from taxation and we’re addicted to federal money to barely survive.

Politicians of both parties run and get elected on “no new taxes” pledges and then take office with no intent of actually running the state, balancing budgets, improving the state’s revenues and making Alabama’s economy competitive.

Alabama politicians ignore a wealth of revenue opportunities in the name of morality. 

Let’s be clear: Morality is not a political issue. Morality is a person’s internal code of ethics. Humankind is notorious for one thing: Morality espoused in public is often completely belied by actions which occur when no one is looking.

Let’s see how Alabama fails to measure up economically merely because Alabamians are hypocrites when it comes to “sinning.”

Marijuana —

Alabama is awash in drugs. Marijuana use is rampant. Crystal meth, cocaine, heroin and crack are land-office business here.

Marijuana is a cash crop.  According to the feds, the national average for marijuana use is 260 per 100,000 population. Alabama is higher than the national average with 273 per 100,000 population using marijuana. By the fed standard, 12,714 people in Alabama smoke weed. We know it's more than that because  a total of 13,349 people in Alabama used marijuana in 2014. How do we know? They were arrested for possessing it. Law enforcement will tell you that for every person caught using marijuana there are 8 people who are never caught.

So, that means the total marijuana usage, according to police statistics, in Alabama is 106,792 people. 

Sociologists claim this number is too low. Some studies show that as many as 88% of people nationwide have used marijuana at least once. 

So, if that number is accurate, then 4.3 million people in Alabama have used marijuana at least once.

If Alabama legalized marijuana the tax revenue that the state would earn is easy to calculate.

Let’s look at Colorado and do the math. Colorado has 5.36 million people compared to Alabama’s 4.89 million. We can simply take Colorado’s numbers since the state legalized marijuana and multiply those figures by .897 and come up with a projection of what Alabama would earn in tax revenues from marijuana.

Colorado’s legal marijuana is a $700 million a year industry. Colorado weed generated $53 million in tax revenue to the public coffers. Income tax off of Colorado marijuana sales is $140 million annually. 

Alabama legal weed would be a $627.9 million industry.  Alabama would reap $47.5 million in sales taxes off of legal weed annually. Income taxes off of marijuana would exceed $120 million.

What other industry could instantly generate nearly $50 million in taxes for Alabama? None.

Casinos –

To calculate what Alabama would earn from casino gaming we need only look at Mississippi.

Mississippi’s casinos generate $2.4 billion in annual revenues. The income tax from this industry exceeds $480 million yearly.

Mississippi projects it will collect $2.17 million in sales tax revenues from gambling in 2015. Alabama, a state of comparable size and population, would generate the same amount yearly.

And don't forget, there are already two casino/hotels operating in Alabama on Indian land. Both are doing land-office business and raking in hundreds of millions in profits but not paying a dime of tax to the state because they're on Indian land!

So, casinos are already here, but we're not benefiting from them statewide. There is a strong rumor that Gov. Robert Bentley is asking the Indian casinos to bail out Alabama. That would be the ultimate display that Alabama has needed casinos all along. 

It's time.

Prostitution – 

Legalized prostitution is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good thing for public health and policy reasons. Wrap your head around this. In the states and countries of the world where prostitution has been legalized the industry has brought women out of sex slavery and made them legal independent contractors who work in a safe, regulated industry that generates tax revenues.

If you’re outraged and are yelling at the computer right now – screeching that you don’t want prostitution in Alabama – it’s too late. It’s already here.

Right now in Alabama there are as few as 4,000 and as many as 30,000 prostitutes working illegally in the state. This is a booming business in Alabama run by organized crime.  Think I’m lying? Google “escorts” and “Alabama” and you’ll find several web sites chock full of ads for prostitutes in every corner of Alabama. 

While some of these illegal prostitutes are working independently, the majority of these prostitutes are virtual slaves in an industry controlled by organized crime. These women have no say in anything they do. They are sex trafficked in and out of Alabama. They suffer abuse, beatings. Many are murdered and those who survive usually suffer from horrible sexually transmitted diseases. They are forced to have sex with six to eight men nightly.

Unlike illegal prostitutes, legal prostitutes host one customer nightly, are allowed to turn away any customer they are not comfortable with, and don’t face severe beatings and torture and exploitation.

So, let’s be clear: If there are between 4,000 and 30,000 prostitutes working in Alabama and these women sleep with six to eight men each night, let’s do the math: That means there are between 32,000 and 240,000 men in Alabama sleeping with prostitutes each night.

Clearly, prostitution exists in Alabama.

Legalizing prostitution would be a step in the right direction both from a public health standpoint and from a taxable revenue standpoint.

Prostitution is a $200 billion industry in USA. Most states outlaw prostitution, so that is tax-free revenue for sex traffickers and organized crime. If the sex industry were legalized and taxed, the income taxes on that money would exceed $40 billion. Sales tax would exceed $1.6 billion.

In Nevada, legal brothers are a gold-mine in tax revenue.  The average Nevada legal prostitute, working only one week a month, makes $100,000.00 annually and pays income taxes of $20,000.00 yearly.  Her employment is regulated by the state, which conducts monthly health-screenings, regulates the brothel owners, making sure her employment is voluntary and that she is paid properly and taxed properly.

Nevada legal brothels gross $75 million annually. Illegal prostitution in Las Vegas (the only part of Nevada where it is not legalized) is $5 billion annually, completely untaxed. One has to wonder why Nevada would legalize brothels, but NOT in Las Vegas, its number one tourist Mecca. As a result organized crime profits mightily in Vegas.

The legalization of brothels has brought a tax windfall for Nevada, where legal brothels generate $600,000 in annual sales tax revenue and $1.5 million in income taxes annually.

Not one case of AIDS has been diagnosed among the legal prostitutes in Nevada since it was legalized. AIDS among illegal prostitutes is rampant.

Not only would legalizing prostitution raise enormous tax revenues, it would reduce law enforcement costs. The cost of policing illegal prostitution is $7.5 million annually. The number of organized crime figures prosecuted for sex trafficking is - 1%. Mostly cops arrest the abused, beaten and terrified illegal prostitutes, victimizing them further, while their masters get away scot free.

Recent studies have shown that women who work in legal brothels are there because they like their jobs, like the income, and like the control they have over their lives. Further, the customers of these prostitutes like that the industry is regulated and the brothels are safe and not run by criminals.

Crunching the numbers, Alabama would generate $1.2 million in annual sales tax revenue and $3 million annually in income tax revenues from legalized prostitution.

All-nude strip clubs –

Strip clubs are marginally legal in Alabama. They are regulated to death, and thus their survival is often tenuous. These clubs are regulated so that dancers are only allowed to be topless and not nude as in Georgia.

There are currently only 25 strip clubs in Alabama. Despite rampant over-regulation and downright predatory hostility from government, these clubs generate revenue of $37.5 million annually. Alabama currently earns $3 million annually in sales taxes off of strip clubs. Income tax figures are hard to calculate because the dancers work strictly for tips and many clubs don't report.

Compare that to Georgia, which has 61 strip clubs. Most of them feature all-nude dancers. The gross revenue of these clubs in Georgia is – you might want to sit down – $700 million.  All-nude strip clubs in Atlanta are credited as a major attraction for Atlanta's $5 billion annual convention business.

So, Georgia gains an incredible annual income tax benefit of $140 million directly from strip clubs and a sales tax gain of $56 million annually.

Sales and income tax from conventions which come to Atlanta to enjoy the strip clubs there exceeds $1 billion.

And get this, the federal courts have ruled that nude dancing is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. So, Alabama is actually violating federal constitutional law by prohibiting nude dancing.

So let’s look at Alabama compared to Georgia. This means that if Alabama legalized all-nude strip clubs, the potential economic impact is $350 million and the potential tax benefit annually to Alabama would be $94 million. We’d see income tax of $70 million and sales tax of $3.8 million each year. 

If we legalized marijuana, casinos, prostitution and all-nude strip clubs in Alabama, the sales tax revenue would exceed $55 million annually. 

It’s time we started recognizing that all of these industries are currently existing in some form or other in Alabama. Alabamians partake of all of these “sins.” The marijuana, casino, sex and strip club industries could be legalized, regulated and taxed to the benefit of all Alabamians. 

And get this: If you don’t smoke marijuana, use prostitutes, gamble or go to strip clubs, you wouldn’t pay a dime of this tax. You’d just get the benefit of the “sinning” of others!

Lastly, imagine how much the State of Alabama and tax payers would save on law enforcement and incarceration costs. It would be millions of dollars annually.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Deaths in Madison County jail a sign of rank mismanagement

Huntsville, AL. – The website Al.com and Huntsville Times reported on October 17, 2014 that three people locked up in Madison County Jail died needlessly because the jail staff made no attempt to save them from hideous, life-threatening diseases – all of which are curable with basic medical treatment.

Two of the dead people are black and one is white.

The article itself is appalling, in that the author, a reporter named Challen Stephens, refers to these people as “small-time criminals," as if they are less than human.

Civil rights attorney Hank Sherrod, of Florence, AL., is spearheading the legal fight to hold the jail accountable.

In three separate lawsuits, Sherrod has alleged that each person died needlessly because the Madison County jail routinely denies people incarcerated in their facility basic medical care in order to save money, banking on the insurance of the medical contractor to cover any resulting lawsuits.

The first victim is Deundrez Woods, a 19-year-old from Huntsville. He was arrested for shoplifting Star Wars DVDs at Wal-Mart in June of 2013. That’s a minor charge. It’s punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine. He cut his foot in jail – which is a cesspool of germs and bacteria – and his foot became gangrenous and he died. After he began complaining of the severe pain and swelling from gangrene, the jail staff took him to the medical unit where, according to the lawsuit, he wasn’t given even food and water, much less medical treatment. 

Gangrene is a rotting of human flesh due to lack of circulation. It stinks to high hell, and when Woods began to stink because he was rotting alive, the guards simply hosed him off with water.

The complaint alleges that “no correction officer or ACH nurse did anything to even check Woods, let alone help him.”

Woods' lawsuit further alleges that Madison County Sherrif Blake Dorning and his jail administrator Steve Morrison are complicit with Dr. Arthur Williams, the director of medical care at the jail, and Dr. Norman Johnson, who is the CEO of Advanced Correctional Healthcare, in “an explicit or implicit agreement or plan to delay or deny necessary medical care to avoid having to pay for medical care."

The second person to die in jail was Tanisha Jefferson. She was 30 years old. She was arrested at her home on Oct. 14, 2013 and charged with harassment. Harassment is punishable by a year in jail and a fine and is a minor charge.

Jefferson died in the Madison County jail on Oct. 31, 2013 when her bowel became obstructed. In short, she had a blockage in her intestines and her insides exploded inside her. The lawsuit asserts that Johnson had been constipated for 13 days. When she began to complain of abdominal pain, the jail denied her medical care.

She begged and pleaded for help for 13 days and was ignored. The complaint filed by Sherrod says Jefferson asked repeatedly to see a doctor and filed a medical grievance on Oct. 25. She reported that she’d been sick for nearly two weeks without treatment.

Jefferson finally saw Williams on Oct. 29. The suit alleges he ignored what are commonly understood symptoms of a severe medical condition, including acute abdominal and rectal pain and vomiting.

Williams, instead of sending Jefferson to the hospital, sent her back to her cell to die, which she did on Oct. 31.

The third person to die was 61-year-old Nikki Listau. She broke her ribs and her leg when she fell out of her bunk while detoxing in the jail. She was arrested on March 10 and charged with harassing communications, which is punishable by three months in jail and a fine and is also a minor charge.

All three of these people who died weren’t dangerous people. They weren’t, as the reporter claims, “small-time criminals.” They were human beings. They suffered the death penalty in a jail owned by the taxpayers of Madison County. The taxpayers are footing the bill for the jail, from its operation to any lawsuit settlements paid out by the jail for these deaths.

The law requires a person who is incarcerated to receive medical care.

As is their practice when they’re sued, the Madison County jail administrators hide behind Jeff Rich, Madison County’s attorney. He then recites the oft-stated mantra that the county does not comment on pending litigation. Rich said the three lawsuits are "being vigorously defended."

Duh. Really? How about fix the problem.

I’ve tangled with Mr. Rich before. I had a client who was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. He was placed in the jail and denied his anti-psychotic medicines for weeks. His mental state deteriorated to the point where he was hallucinating and violent. Instead of listening to his mother, who had his meds and presented them to the jail, and instead of listening to me when I told them the meds would make him calm, the jail chose to strap him into a chair and at various times hit and taze him.

I filed a motion for the trial judge to order the jail to give him his medicine. The Madison County District Attorney’s office, and Assistant District Attorneys Thomas Glover and Jay Town, immediately agreed with my motion that my client should be provided his medications.

Rich came to court and said the judge had no authority to tell the jail to medicate my client and then haughtily told me that if I wanted the client medicated I should file a lawsuit in federal court. I asked him, “You’d rather me sue you in federal court, which takes months and months, than just give a sick man his medicine?”

I don’t know what happened, but the next day the client was suddenly placed on his meds.

We know the jail has problems.

Recently I wrote a blog about the scabies epidemic at the jail, which the jail pretends does not exist. When asked by reporters for the Huntsville Times about the problem, the jail administrator issued a catty remark and dismissed the reporter.

The Madison County Jail is not prison. Jails house people awaiting trial who are too poor to make bond and people who’ve been convicted of minor offenses. The poor get stuck in jail. The middle class and the rich make bond. Thus, it's poor people who are likely to die in Madison County jail.

No one should die in a county jail. Ever. One death is too many. Three deaths point to a systemic failure and rank mismanagement. 

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Scabies rampant at Madison County Jail - sources

Several of my clients have informed me that there is a scabies problem running rampant at the Madison County Jail.

My clients inform me that the jail staff doesn’t care and is ignoring complaints from prisoners. One client complained so much he was threatened, but he was eventually taken to the jail infirmary where he was given an anti-itch cream.

I reported this to the Huntsville Times and their reporter informs me the story went nowhere because the jail administrator’s response to their inquiry was: “I’ve heard that too, but I can’t confirm or deny it.”

What the hell kind of response is that?

Scabies (from Latin: scabere, "to scratch"), is a contagious skin infection caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. The mite is a tiny, and usually not directly visible, parasite which burrows under the host's skin, which in most people causes an intense itching sensation caused by an allergic response. The infection in animals other than humans is caused by a different but related mite species, and is called sarcoptic mange.

Scabies is classified by the World Health Organization as a water-related disease.

Scabies is contagious and can be spread by scratching an infected area, thereby picking up the mites under the fingernails, or through physical contact with a scabies-infected person for a prolonged period of time. Scabies is usually transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact. It can also be spread through contact with other objects, such as clothing, bedding, furniture, or surfaces with which a person infected with scabies might have come in contact. Scabies mites can survive without a human host for 24 to 36 hours. As with lice, scabies can be transmitted through sexual intercourse even if a latex condom is used, because it is transmitted from skin-to-skin at sites other than sex organs.

The Madison County Jail needs to admit the problem exists and then do something about it. Merely because people are in jail doesn’t mean they should be condemned to living in disease-ridden conditions and both state and federal law require jails to keep their prisoners healthy.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Are 80% of lawyers incompetent and lazy?

Are 80% of lawyers incompetent and lazy?

I recently had lunch with a circuit judge who thinks this statistic is accurate!

In 19 years of practicing criminal defense law, I have never had lunch with a judge.
I avoid the practice because I don’t think lawyers and judges should socialize because it can lead to charges of favoritism or an accusation of bias by the public who are quick to draw negative conclusions from innocent social affiliations.

When this judge asked me to meet, I had no idea why. Usually when I am summoned by a judge, the judge wants to ask me to consider taking some case so horrific the lawyers in that judge’s district won’t touch it. The child rapist or child serial killer is often to hot to handle for small town lawyers. (Think Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird.)

So, I arrived for lunch assuming I was going to be asked to take a case no one wanted.

To my surprise, the judge, who arrived with judicial staff in tow, told me a tale of a recent trial in which this judge became aware rather quickly that a lawyer representing the defendant was completely incompetent.

This judge told me that he’d considered declaring a mistrial rather than let the case go forward. He regretted that he didn’t do it after the defendant was found guilty. The judge was pondering voiding the verdict and ordering a new trial.

Then, the judge looked at me, his face a mask of deep concern, and explained. “I know you teach trial strategy to lawyers all over the place and I know you’ve written several trial strategy books. I know you do post-conviction relief as well. I want to ask you a question: Of all of the lawyers that you see in the courtroom, what percentage do you think are competent?”

I pondered the question for a moment and replied with a question. “What percentage do you think are competent, Your Honor?”

The judge sighed, dug his fork into his salad, and shrugged. “Maybe 30 percent.”

“I think it’s more like 20 percent,” I said.

The judge looked at me and shook his head. “I was going to say 20 percent, but I thought maybe I was being harsh.”

The judge then told me about his frustrations. Each week defendants come to court with both appointed and retained attorneys and all too often the attorneys don’t know even the basic facts of their cases. They come to court “winging it,” the judge said. “They’re trying to handle cases without having to do any work. They aren’t earning their money and they aren’t helping their clients.”

Even worse, the judge said, these lawyers don’t know the basic elements of how to conduct simple hearings like motions to suppress, motions to limit evidence, or even basic plea hearings.

“We’ve got an epidemic of incompetent – or lazy – lawyers,” the judge said sadly.

We talked about recent jury trials over which the judge had presided. He said the lawyers didn’t know how to strike a jury, offer an opening argument, cross-examine witnesses, make valid legal objections, make appropriate motions, argue a closing argument, handle a charge conference. In short, it was as if they’d never been to law school.

The judge also complained that the new contract system in Alabama, where lawyers are paid a flat monthly fee from the state to take indigent defense cases –  without having to file separate billings per case – was a failure.

“These lawyers are taking that steady monthly check and not doing the work,” the judge said. “I can tell. They think I can’t tell that they’re not prepared, but it’s obvious.”

I explained to the judge that the reason I write trial strategy law books and the reason I teach trial strategy seminars is to try and motivate lawyers to become better trial practitioners.

A full 1/3 of my practice is fixing the mistakes of other lawyers. Rule 32 petitions in Alabama, and habeas corpus petitions in federal court, are used by lawyers to void a wrongful conviction and get that wrongfully convicted person a new trial.

To succeed with these petitions, one of the things you have to allege is incompetency of the trial lawyer. The standard is this: But for the incompetency of the trial lawyer, there would have been a different result, such as a verdict of not guilty.

Sadly, it’s not very hard to reach that standard in most cases.

I told the judge the biggest problem I see is that most lawyers try their cases only on the facts. They analyze their cases only on the facts. If the defendant is caught red handed and confesses, these lawyers throw up their hands and tell the client to take a plea.

These lawyers don’t recognize that a criminal trial is like the famous five level chess board on Mr. Spock’s desk in Star Trek.

Lawyers are taught in law school to try their cases on three things: 1) the law; 2) the facts; and 3) the rules of criminal procedure. I explain in my seminars they also must be tried on 4) the poker and 5) the human psychology of the people in the system.

Lawyers who play poker are better lawyers than lawyers who don’t. Poker is a game of strategy, risk-taking, bluffing and knowing when to show cards or hold them. You also have to psych out your opponent.

All of the bad lawyers I see simply try their cases on the facts and the sequence of events. Period. You can hold a poker hand of two 2 cards and win a trial. You gotta know how to use the procedures and the poker in your favor. I’ve won trials where my client was caught dead to rights but the police or the prosecution violated a rule of procedure, voiding the evidence they seized. It happens often. It’s my job to win, using any of the above-listed elements to do so.

Sadly, I don’t see the bulk of lawyers trying to improve their skills. I wish I did, but I don’t.

Thankfully, 20 out of 100 lawyers care about their performance, care about their clients and work their butts off to win their cases. Sadly, that leaves another 80 percent that need to learn how to do their jobs or find another line of work.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Judges cite their pet peeves regarding courthouse behavior and give insight into their insulation from the woes of the common citizen in their courts

A recent article on al.com focused on complaints circuit court judges in Alabama have about the people who come to their courts.

As I read the article, it reinforced for me that most judges become insulated and forget the daily struggles often afflicting the people summoned to appear before them. The article mentioned pet peeves of these judges, and their responses were proof that our judges don't get it. 

Here are there pet peeves:

1) Defendant late for court. Most criminal defendants are dirt poor. They have unreliable cars or rely on public transport. Neither are dependable. In rural counties with no public transport, defendants often don't have any way at all to court.
2) People talking in the gallery. Court takes all day usually. Try sitting completely silent all day. Judges don't do it either.
3) People using cell phones. Cell phones are also used for reading books and magazines, looking up important information on the web, emailing the office. Many defendants who have cell phones are single parents trying to manage their kids, locate or confirm their kids whereabouts, or trying to placate a boss who's pissed they're in court.
4) Small children making noises. Many poor defendants are single mothers with no one to keep their kids if they have to go to court. Often they have no daycare and often have no family to rely on.
5) A defendant interrupting them. Defendants usually interrupt because they don't understand. They are terrified. The judge is speaking in legalese. (Judges, in their infinite arrogance, think defendants understand the complex stuff we say at the bench. Trust me, they don't. It's like a deer in the headlights. After a hearing, even a hearing where the defendant has answered questions, they can't recall a thing that occurred because they were so scared.
6) A defendant, or anyone in the gallery, falling asleep or keeping their head down. "We have had to wake people up before," Jefferson County Circuit Judge Virginia Vinson noted. Most criminal defendants work blue collar jobs. Many work two jobs or double shifts to survive. Church is a quiet, comfy place, just like church. In that person's shoes, you'd fall asleep, too. I saw a prosecutor scream at a woman one day and threaten her with jail for dozing in court. I interrupted the prosecutor and told her she had no legal authority to do that. The woman told me later she worked three shifts in two days and was exhausted.
7) Defendants who don't say their "maams" or "sirs" when responding to questions. Awe, prickly, prickly. Simple yesses and nos are sufficient. One judge loses his cookies if someone, anyone, answers with "OK." Seriously? Grow up.
8) People who wear hats in court. Most blue collar folks who wear ball caps, etc., forget they even have them on. Most apologize and take them off when asked by a bailiff.
9) A defendant who smells of whiskey or beer (that will usually mean a trip to jail). This is contempt of court. Often the defendant who smells of booze tanked up before court because they're certain the courts are unfair and they are convinced they're going to jail anyway.
10) A defendant who slumps in their chair. Oh, really? I see lawyers, cops, witnesses... all manner of people slumping. Grow up.
11) People dressed inappropriately, such as Judge Pulliam whining about shirts with marijuana emblems. Hey, it's called the First Amendment. You can wear what emblem you want so long as its not obscene. How many times have I seen Bob Wilters, from the bench, give shit to someone wearing an Auburn emblem. Give me a break. Oh, and marijuana is legal in several states, thus the marijuana leaf is indeed a First Amendment commentary.

These pet peeves give us insight into just how much judges are insulated, and how much they view with some disdain the people who appear before them.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Richard Jensen wins reversal and remand of felony probation revocation

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals today reversed and remanded the probation revocation of Tami Hinkle, who had pled guilty to theft back in 2009.   Hinkle was found in violation of her probation for being arrested on new theft charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison on April 3, 2014 by Madison County Circuit Judge James P. Smith.

Richard Jensen, Hinkle's defense attorney, argued during the April hearing that the probation revocation hearing was improper, that Hinkle had a right to a two-part hearing process required by Alabama law and by the United States Supreme Court rulings in Morrissey v. Brewer and Gagnon v. Scarpelli, two cases from the early 1970s which require a probationer to be arraigned and then given a full separate hearing. The initial hearing is supposed to be a formal notification of the charge and then a separate trial on the merits is held later.

Jensen objected at the April hearing and told the trial judge that Alabama law required two separate hearings. Jensen told Smith he'd never formally informed Hinkle of the charges. Smith overruled Jensen's objections, saying, "All right. We do this pretty informally in this county. Everybody who handles these knows that once a -- if you file an appearance in a delinquency case, the report is in the file. There's not like any magic. You don't have to file magic motions to get a copy of the delinquency report. You can just go to the file and get it."

Smith revoked Hinkle's probation and sentenced her to ten years and Jensen filed an appeal to the Alabama appeals court.

The appeals court agreed with Jensen's argument on behalf of Hinkle and reversed Smith's revocation of Hinkle's probation and remanded the case back for a two-step revocation process.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.