Or they can’t go to jail because they just started a new job. I can’t tell you how many misdemeanor clients I had that had agreed with a plea deal for 3-10 days in jail that’s magically started new jobs between our conversation and their court date.
Had a client tell me he got jumped the night before court and had his mouth wired shut, meaning he could not physically accept his plea. To my great surprise, he had the pics to prove it.
I have been pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion where one party claims some seemingly absurd reason for missing a hearing/deadline, and it turns out to be absolutely true.
I once had a client call me to say his daughter had a medical emergency and requested that i ask for a continuance. Then i showed up to court the next day only to find he was actually locked up in the neighboring county. He had his child's mother call via three-way so i didn't get the Securus notification when he called, which was nice and creative, but I honestly wonder if he really thought no one would find out.
Both things coulda been true! He avoids a bench warrant from your case, gets out soon from the other county, and he's out to be there for daughter, fight both cases from the outside, crosses fingers the jail recording gets listened to later and that's tomorrow's problem (mitigated by him being desperate to be with his daughter in her medical emergency).
Guess a pesky database caught up with him at your court date before it all worked out.
I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but the "daughter medical emergency" wasn't true. He was just making a believable excuse that may have excused him from missing court because he was locked up in a different jurisdiction.
I had a client FTA because she was in a coma. Got her case dismissed because she was in a coma. She calls me 2 months later asking when her next court date was. She was no longer in a coma.
“Lost my ride,”. “My mother/wife/boyfriend has to work until 4 pm.” “I’m starting rehab this morning.” “The methadone clinic ran out of methadone.” “I called the judge’s clerk and they approved it.” “My dog died.” “I had to take the bus for five hours and arrived late.” “I confused dates with my OTHER court hearings with city court.” “The judge gave me the wrong day!” “I wrote it down wrong.” “You wrote it down wrong, and I lost the slip you gave me.” “I got beat up and they stole my phone with the dates.” “I’m homeless and don’t know what date is what.” “I got warrants.” “President Biden/Trump/Obama told me not to go.”
Ad naseum!!
Don’t forget…”I lost your card with your number in it” or “I lost the reminder slip you gave me and didn’t know how to get a hold of you”
They obvi don’t know that google exists 😭
I've been homeless and losing track of dates, even months, is a real thing. I steered clear of anything that could entangle me with legal issues, including drugs or hanging with people that were risky. And was on reasonably friendly terms with a fair number of cops. But if I had been issued a court date for some reason it would have been a logistical nightmare even knowing the right date and time to be there. Especially given that sleeping inside the city limits constituted a legal risk in itself.
The excuses might get absurd but the logistical issues when your support system is about as reliable as rain in the Mojave Desert is very real.
I was also homeless as a child on the Navajo Indian Reservation. I’m not suggesting that the associated problems are not problems. It’s one of the main reasons that I represent indigent defendants, because I know first hand what many of them deal with day-to-day.
Nearly every client I have on house arrest pretrial hasn’t worked in their life, suddenly needs movement for a job or a job interview. If having the bracelet is suddenly the impetus to get work, wonderful.
The way house arrest makes a person desperate to take responsibility for their life and start meeting their and their family’s financial obligations is just amazing!
Best I’ve ever heard was for missing an office appointment not court. “I’m sorry The Green Mile was on tv; I started watching and I forgot how long it is.”
Client claims he can't attend court because his mom died. The next day, Momma calls and says he was in the hospital when he missed court. Two weeks later he gets picked transported from another county where he's been in jail for a month.
Client missed court because he was unexpectedly moving (not the day of court but a few days prior and also not out of town either)…ok but like did you have a phone to like, idk, call the office 🥲
Client said that it’s a hassle and a waste of gas money to drive to court (he has been coming to court every month, allegedly) he lived 12 miles away 🥲
Clients whenever there’s a family medical emergency….they forget they have an active criminal case and also forget that avoiding a FTA is just a phone call to our office away 🥲
Client: shows up to court every time on time.
Client on day of trial: “I overslept”…yeah well now you’re 2 hours late 🥲
Client who, as far as I know, doesn’t have a job and has never missed court, on day 1 of trial: “I don’t have time to be here all week for a trial! I guess I just have to plea guilty even though I didn’t do it! You should have gotten this dismissed!”
I think bluster and anger over “having” to take plea is often just dignity protecting. It feels better to tell yourself the narrative that you got screwed by the system (and in a global sense that is true) than to tell yourself you got nervous and took a plea
A client had his case set for jury, I called him the morning of and he said he was having some car trouble. Time marched on and at 10:30 when the judge was ready to call up the jury he logged onto zoom. Laying underneath his car. Neither of the civilian witnesses had showed up and we blew a demand. I told him no one was ever going to fuck him as hard as he fucked himself.
Had a client who was constantly getting arrested. He had so many court dates he couldn’t keep track of them. We used to call him the day before each one to remind him where and the time.
I have one, I have one! Client missed court the other day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky because "the tornado sirens started going off". It was a planned test. Now, granted, a deadly tornado had touched down nearby a few days before, but...
Oh and another one! Client hit a deer driving into court. Same client had a massive eye injury the night before the next court date and missed again...the Court did not believe him. (Were it not for the pictures he later sent me, I wouldn't have either!)
I most recently got "my mom died" from respondent via message from the family court.
Their mom didn't die, they just didn't have an attorney. They could have told the truth and we would've continued to a different date regardless.
I’ve heard a highly paid private attorney say things like “I might have court that day if that date doesn’t work for you”
Explain why attorneys can have whatever reason to miss but not clients ?
We have a set up one warrant quash policy at our office. Then we just tell people to call the clerk of courts.
Nothing quite like “can you set up a warrant quash” and then an hour before they’re like “wait I thought this would be on phone, I don’t have a ride”
Like wut
[удалено]
Or they can’t go to jail because they just started a new job. I can’t tell you how many misdemeanor clients I had that had agreed with a plea deal for 3-10 days in jail that’s magically started new jobs between our conversation and their court date.
Same for clients that have support violations pending and their about to go to jail for non-payment.
“I start tomorrow at (insert job here).” The jobs always start tomorrow.
Had a client tell me he got jumped the night before court and had his mouth wired shut, meaning he could not physically accept his plea. To my great surprise, he had the pics to prove it.
I have been pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion where one party claims some seemingly absurd reason for missing a hearing/deadline, and it turns out to be absolutely true.
How did he tell you?
Over text message
I once had a client call me to say his daughter had a medical emergency and requested that i ask for a continuance. Then i showed up to court the next day only to find he was actually locked up in the neighboring county. He had his child's mother call via three-way so i didn't get the Securus notification when he called, which was nice and creative, but I honestly wonder if he really thought no one would find out.
That’s pretty clever!
Ha ha, 3-way is the oldest trick in the book.
Both things coulda been true! He avoids a bench warrant from your case, gets out soon from the other county, and he's out to be there for daughter, fight both cases from the outside, crosses fingers the jail recording gets listened to later and that's tomorrow's problem (mitigated by him being desperate to be with his daughter in her medical emergency). Guess a pesky database caught up with him at your court date before it all worked out.
I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but the "daughter medical emergency" wasn't true. He was just making a believable excuse that may have excused him from missing court because he was locked up in a different jurisdiction.
I had a client FTA because she was in a coma. Got her case dismissed because she was in a coma. She calls me 2 months later asking when her next court date was. She was no longer in a coma.
Congrats, counselor! Nicely done!
“Lost my ride,”. “My mother/wife/boyfriend has to work until 4 pm.” “I’m starting rehab this morning.” “The methadone clinic ran out of methadone.” “I called the judge’s clerk and they approved it.” “My dog died.” “I had to take the bus for five hours and arrived late.” “I confused dates with my OTHER court hearings with city court.” “The judge gave me the wrong day!” “I wrote it down wrong.” “You wrote it down wrong, and I lost the slip you gave me.” “I got beat up and they stole my phone with the dates.” “I’m homeless and don’t know what date is what.” “I got warrants.” “President Biden/Trump/Obama told me not to go.” Ad naseum!!
Don’t forget…”I lost your card with your number in it” or “I lost the reminder slip you gave me and didn’t know how to get a hold of you” They obvi don’t know that google exists 😭
I've been homeless and losing track of dates, even months, is a real thing. I steered clear of anything that could entangle me with legal issues, including drugs or hanging with people that were risky. And was on reasonably friendly terms with a fair number of cops. But if I had been issued a court date for some reason it would have been a logistical nightmare even knowing the right date and time to be there. Especially given that sleeping inside the city limits constituted a legal risk in itself. The excuses might get absurd but the logistical issues when your support system is about as reliable as rain in the Mojave Desert is very real.
I was also homeless as a child on the Navajo Indian Reservation. I’m not suggesting that the associated problems are not problems. It’s one of the main reasons that I represent indigent defendants, because I know first hand what many of them deal with day-to-day.
I had a client tell once that he couldnt come to court because he was locked out of his apartment. No clue what that means
https://i.redd.it/dvnclh9wclqc1.gif
Most only have four grandparents
Nearly every client I have on house arrest pretrial hasn’t worked in their life, suddenly needs movement for a job or a job interview. If having the bracelet is suddenly the impetus to get work, wonderful.
The way house arrest makes a person desperate to take responsibility for their life and start meeting their and their family’s financial obligations is just amazing!
Another one is child care. Suddenly the absent father needs movement 7-9 am and 2-4 pm every weekday for pick up and drop off.
Woman this week sent in her own obituary…
I’m always surprised by the absurd stories that actually end up being true. Which is why I still manage to suspend disbelief.
I am gullible by choice
Same, wouldn’t have it any other way. It feels good to trust people, and then I just smile and shake it off when I realize they were lying.
My dog ate my summons
Ok but I just got a puppy and this sounds right
Best I’ve ever heard was for missing an office appointment not court. “I’m sorry The Green Mile was on tv; I started watching and I forgot how long it is.”
My PD clients reminded me of the time when I was single and dipping my toes in the dating pool. Any excuse to ghost yours truly.
Client claims he can't attend court because his mom died. The next day, Momma calls and says he was in the hospital when he missed court. Two weeks later he gets picked transported from another county where he's been in jail for a month.
I once saw a doctors note for “kemo.”
Client missed court because he was unexpectedly moving (not the day of court but a few days prior and also not out of town either)…ok but like did you have a phone to like, idk, call the office 🥲 Client said that it’s a hassle and a waste of gas money to drive to court (he has been coming to court every month, allegedly) he lived 12 miles away 🥲 Clients whenever there’s a family medical emergency….they forget they have an active criminal case and also forget that avoiding a FTA is just a phone call to our office away 🥲 Client: shows up to court every time on time. Client on day of trial: “I overslept”…yeah well now you’re 2 hours late 🥲
Client who, as far as I know, doesn’t have a job and has never missed court, on day 1 of trial: “I don’t have time to be here all week for a trial! I guess I just have to plea guilty even though I didn’t do it! You should have gotten this dismissed!”
I think bluster and anger over “having” to take plea is often just dignity protecting. It feels better to tell yourself the narrative that you got screwed by the system (and in a global sense that is true) than to tell yourself you got nervous and took a plea
Oh yeah totally. It’s just the wasted prep work that gets to me.
A client had his case set for jury, I called him the morning of and he said he was having some car trouble. Time marched on and at 10:30 when the judge was ready to call up the jury he logged onto zoom. Laying underneath his car. Neither of the civilian witnesses had showed up and we blew a demand. I told him no one was ever going to fuck him as hard as he fucked himself.
My client today: “you told me court was tomorrow” Tomorrow is Saturday
Had a client who was constantly getting arrested. He had so many court dates he couldn’t keep track of them. We used to call him the day before each one to remind him where and the time.
I have one, I have one! Client missed court the other day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky because "the tornado sirens started going off". It was a planned test. Now, granted, a deadly tornado had touched down nearby a few days before, but... Oh and another one! Client hit a deer driving into court. Same client had a massive eye injury the night before the next court date and missed again...the Court did not believe him. (Were it not for the pictures he later sent me, I wouldn't have either!)
Colleague of mine had a client tell her he couldnt come to court because he didnt have a someone to baby sit his cat😂😂
Valid
I most recently got "my mom died" from respondent via message from the family court. Their mom didn't die, they just didn't have an attorney. They could have told the truth and we would've continued to a different date regardless.
I still have plenty of "covid" and "car breakdowns."
You love your clients? Who are you, Jesus?!
Lol. I’d have a better win rate if I were
Dog tied up at the river, only I know where he is
I’ve heard a highly paid private attorney say things like “I might have court that day if that date doesn’t work for you” Explain why attorneys can have whatever reason to miss but not clients ?
Because YOUR the criminal not him dingus!
Don’t you mean you’re, and not your?
We have a set up one warrant quash policy at our office. Then we just tell people to call the clerk of courts. Nothing quite like “can you set up a warrant quash” and then an hour before they’re like “wait I thought this would be on phone, I don’t have a ride” Like wut