Court Prayer Session

9/16/2018

“According to Stephanos Bibas, a professor of law and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the criminal-justice system has become a “capacious, onerous machinery that sweeps everyone in,” and plea bargains, with their swift finality, are what keep that machinery running smoothly. Because of plea bargains, the system can quickly handle the criminal cases of millions of Americans each year, involving everything from petty violations to violent crimes. But plea bargains make it easy for prosecutors to convict defendants who may not be guilty, who don’t present a danger to society, or whose “crime” may primarily be a matter of suffering from poverty, mental illness, or addiction. And plea bargains are intrinsically tied up with race, of course, especially in our era of mass incarceration.
As prosecutors have accumulated power in recent decades, judges and public defenders have lost it. To induce defendants to plead, prosecutors often threaten “the trial penalty”: They make it known that defendants will face more-serious charges and harsher sentences if they take their case to court and are convicted. About 80 percent of defendants are eligible for court-appointed attorneys, including overworked public defenders who don’t have the time or resources to even consider bringing more than a tiny fraction of these cases to trial. The result, one frustrated Missouri public defender complained a decade ago, is a style of defense that is nothing more than “meet ’em and greet ’em and plead ’em.”
This is the age of the plea bargain. Most people adjudicated in the criminal-justice system today waive the right to a trial and the host of protections that go along with one, including the right to appeal. Instead, they plead guilty. The vast majority of felony convictions are now the result of plea bargains—some 94 percent at the state level, and some 97 percent at the federal level. Estimates for misdemeanor convictions run even higher. These are astonishing statistics, and they reveal a stark new truth about the American criminal-justice system: Very few cases go to trial. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy acknowledged this reality in 2012, writing for the majority in Missouri v. Frye, a case that helped establish the right to competent counsel for defendants who are offered a plea bargain. Quoting a law-review article, Kennedy wrote, “ ‘Horse trading [between prosecutor and defense counsel] determines who goes to jail and for how long. That is what plea bargaining is. It is not some adjunct to the criminal justice system; it is the criminal justice system.’ ”

(From: “Innocence Is Irrelevant”, The Atlantic Sept 2017)

Court tomorrow for one of our ladies. People (including representatives of the state) are not always honest. The system is not always fair, but the system is the system and one has no option but to play it out as it’s dealt, especially if she has no money to grease the palms of the system and pricey defense attorneys. I pray God goes before her and shows favor….that those who have been punitive and excessive will be moved to reconsider their position.

Praying over whether to hope for an opportunity for her to have an open plea with the judge or whether to push ahead, encourage her to reject the state’s offer, and make the opportunity for an open plea. Statements prepared….just in case. I always feel so inadequate in a courtroom. One can feel such a sense of helplessness in the face of those with so much more experience and knowledge of court protocol. Hey, what’s the worst that can happen…..oh, yeah I can get thrown in jail! Ha Ha!

This is such a stupid little nothing of a case. She says she is innocent and I believe her. I’ve been sitting in counseling with her for quite a long time. I’m not saying a student wouldn’t lie to me, but I can say that I can more often tell when they’re telling the truth. There is no way I’d plea to something I didn’t do, especially when it comes with a felony conviction, lengthy probation, and more. And she doesn’t want to but she’s got a do-nothing PD who honestly seems to be in collusion with the prosecution and law enforcement! Maybe it’ll be continued another 2 months and we can drag this out ’til the particular obstacles get tired of the game. This is where I’d consider just throwing myself on the mercy of the judge….she has so many positive things to point to as reason why this ought to just be thrown out for the trash it is. But it’s not my life circumstances at risk, it’s hers and she has to decide how much she believes in herself and whether she can project her innocence to the judge or a jury!

March 7, 2021

I spent two hours this afternoon in a solitary prayer vigil on behalf of the spirit of the law in this ruling, Gideon v. Wainwright. I’m seeking wisdom and God’s reckoning on a case that’s on the court docket and is at a critical point in the process. It is my opinion, in observing this case and a number of others not terribly unlike it, that the Public Defender system, as it stands today, is little more than a half-hearted negotiator on behalf of the state’s attorney’s office between the defendant and the state’s attorney to exact the most the system can get from defendants who can’t afford private attorneys. It certainly seems to have little concern for what’s best for an individual defendant. The system is overburdened, sometimes lacking professionalism, and often inadequate in defending clients. I tried to get this defendant evaluated for Therapeutic Justice Court due to the degree of trauma, abuse, and betrayal experienced since early childhood that warped her ability to stand on her own and make good decisions. I’ve known and assisted her for more than a few years. Codependent in seeking to be cherished and cared for in one place after another had left her physically, emotionally,spiritually, relationally, and financially despairing and, to all appearances, at her end, literally, with serious illness hanging over her a couple of years ago. The defendant wasn’t eligible for TJC because the state had “gone for the throat” on the severity of her charges and exceeded TJC’s criteria for participation. The charges were on the basis of testimony by two individuals who colluded to pin their part in the circumstances all on this defendant, who is now on the verge of having a rebuilt life destroyed because the “witnesses” can no longer use her and the financial resources of her legitimate career for their nefarious purposes. Both of them have continued to attempt to have contact, have asked for money, have appealed to pity and compassion to gain sympathy, have made veiled threats and tried to wear her down to come back to the life they know and want her to participate in. Having finally found strength in an identity in Christ to stand, beloved and valued, their appeals for her to rescue them financially have been turned aside. All the more now they desire to see her crushed while they skate free, making deals for themselves. There are women, gullible to men with a seemingly good story, emotionally wounded and needy, who catch a lot of short-shrifting in our legal system , whether involved in garden variety domestic violence complaints or serious long jail-term charges because of unscrupulous men who use them then hang their own wrongs on the backs of women. It makes me cry out for God’s justice and mercy. But I find little to hope for in the Public Defender system. And so, plea deals are coerced again and again with the alternative risk of lengthy mandatory sentences that everyone knows are unwarranted for the defendant. If one actually stands in truth and goes to trial, inconveniencing the entire system, they are told up front they will lose. But it’s not so much “lose” as it is being “thrown” to the wolves. If you can’t afford competent private counsel, there’s a good chance you’ll be another take it or leave it plea-deal casualty or you’ll do serious time in prison. The states attorney gets its pound of flesh and the system continues its abuses. I’m considering embarking on a prayer vigil daily in front of this historic sign at the courthouse until the case is resolved and trusting God knows the truth and is going to use it all for some yet unseen good.
As an advocate for these women, and with the judges knowing I’m NOT an attorney, they often are a little more patient with what others (prosecutors and some PDs) view as my shenanigans in coming to the defense of our women…whether it’s family court or criminal court. I’d feel better about it in Bay County instead of out in the boonies, though.

One person’s appeal on behalf of himself- or that of another- can make a difference for many. Join me in prayer for wisdom in seeking justice…….

One former student observed:

Will be praying for God’s Hand in the whole thing! We know He rules over it all!! (Please don’t get thrown in jail, Mrs. Cathy!! But, you have my number if you do!! You rescued me from jail, suppose I can return the favor!! Lol!!)
Love u!!

No doubt, our justice system should be renamed because there really isn’t much justice in it!! But I believe, like my situation, there is a lesson God has for everybody involved!! I whole heartedly believe her as well and have seen this happen to too many people in my time!! I’m just glad that she has you fighting for her!! Our God is so faithful and I know He is going to bring her through this!!

The Legacy of Gideon v. Wainwright
“If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in his prison cell with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Court had not taken the trouble to look for merit in that one crude petition … the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed. But Gideon did write that letter, the Court did look into his case … and the whole course of American legal history has been changed.”

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
Speech Before the New England Conference on the
Defense of Indigent Persons Accused of Crime
November 1, 1963

Clarence Gideon was accused of a felony in Panama City, Florida and convicted after the trial judge denied Gideon’s request to have counsel appointed to represent him. The Supreme Court agreed to hear Gideon’s case and granted him a new trial, ruling that legal assistance is “fundamental and essential to a fair trial” and that due process requires states to provide a lawyer for any indigent person being prosecuted for a serious crime. After being retried with the help of a local attorney, who had the time and skill to investigate his case and conduct a competent defense, Gideon was acquitted of all charges.