Working for the Man, Pt. I

So, this semester I'm in a clinic at my law school, which requires me to work 21 hours at the local U.S. Attorney's Office. I assume most of you knew that already. But I also have to write a journal entry every week. Many of these are not going to be interesting to the large and varied audience this blog has. (Well, varied at least. Hi Mom!) But some of them might be, so here's the first one.

The activity described below was a sentencing hearing. The defendant had pled guilty to knowingly aiding the production of methamphetamine, and she was being sentenced. Because of her extensive cooperation, from the very beginning of the investigation, the US Attorney’s Office recommended a downward departure from the guidelines. There was some discussion of whether or not a ‘safety valve’ departure was warranted. I did not hear all of the discussion, but it seems that because of the particular crime involved, it was not allowed. The judge felt that some downward departure was warranted, however, not a substantial departure. The defendant was sentenced to about 38 months in prison. The defense attorney asked that the defendant be allowed to turn herself in. She was working at Dillard’s, and wanted to quit that job with some notice. Since the guidelines indicate that this should only be done under exceptional circumstances, the judge denied this request. The defendant, a young girl, burst into tears and said that her attorney had not told her this while the US Marshal came to take her away. The judge let her say good-bye to her mom.

This was a very emotional scene; I don’t think there was a person in the courtroom who was not affected. I thought that the judge was probably too harsh. That morning, I had seen the sentencing of a woman convicted of fraud. Despite how many lives she ruined, she was sentenced to less time and was allowed to turn herself in. Meth is bad, and helping people make meth is illegal, but is buying some cold pills to sell, in order to make a quick buck or two, really worse than cheating people out of all that they’re worth? I also noted that there are times when it can be really hard to be a prosecutor. I’m sure that the AUSA in this case was not excited about this outcome either.

Perhaps the thing most personally useful was the discussion afterward about the dangers of methamphetamine. I don’t know much about meth; still don’t, I guess. But I hadn’t been as aware of how dangerous it is. My impression was that it was roughly as dangerous as something like Ecstasy. The impression I got from the attorney I talked with was that it is more like Crack than Ecstasy. (A friend of mine at the law school agreed with the attorney.) The reminder of the human side of prosecution was also useful; it’s easy to put the thugs in prison, but there are certainly criminals that tug on your heartstrings. Specifically it reminded me to keep in mind always that the defendant is a person with a family, and to beware of dehumanizing or demonizing them.