I am a firm believer that failure is a wonderful teacher and it makes us better at what we do and I am glad that I learned valuable lessons early in both my law enforcement and legal careers.
One of the best lessons I learned early in my legal career is that cases don’t always turn out like cases I read in case books in law school, cases that embraced logic, goodwill and insight.
The unfortunate reality is that people can be untruthful, liars cannot always be exposed, bad things happen to good people and innocent people are convicted with some regularity. Although each trial begins with the principles that the accused is presumed innocent and the prosecution has the burden to prove its case, the dynamics of human nature come into play and the defense begins its case in the hole.
While I have tremendous success taking cases to trial, there is always risk, and as noted in a previous article, one must always weigh reasonable options. Taking a case to trial should not be based on a hope of moral vindication because moral vindication can be costly and often elusive, even under the best circumstances.
Today, at the brink of trial and after rejecting several variations of the same offer by the prosecution, the prosecution gave an offer that could not be rejected. My client was charged with a battery, with possible consequences of 6 months in jail, a restraining order, probation, loss of privilege to possess firearms, participation in an anger management course and fines. The prosecution offered a charge of 415, known as creating a disturbance, with no other conditions and no opposition to expunging the plea after 12 months. He accepted the plea at the risk a jury might be sympathetic and believe an emotional teenager over him. It was a good outcome with no long-term consequences.
In case you are wondering, it is very difficult to recover attorney fees and to be fully compensated or made whole in cases where an individual is exonerated in court by a not guilty verdict. As such, my usual advice to people is to get the matter behind them, let go of any anger and live well. Future success really is the sweetest form of vindication.
