Another Day, Another Court Appearance...

First thing in the morning, one of the attorneys from our office, TK, came to my desk. "Want to do an arraignment proceeding in half an hour?"

Of course I said yes. TK was covering for another colleague who couldn't be there, and didn't even know the facts of the case himself. But in half an hour we figured out the (very simple) facts, he explained the proceeding to me, and I worked out (roughly) what I was supposed to say.

The proceeding this time was in a much smaller and less elaborate courtroom with a Magistrate judge. TK told me that the courtroom actually used to be a conference room until they remodeled it a few years ago. Everyone, including the defense attorney, was very nice, and kept on complimenting me.

All I had to do was to stand up and tell the defendant the maximum penalty for the offenses. The defendant was facing two counts with a combined maximum penalty of 20 years, $500,000, and 6 years of supervised release. And oh, $200 of special assessment fee. Must not forget that. Apparently that's like the MOST important thing I had to mention. (Just kidding, but when I did my change of plea proceeding last time with EG he certainly made it seem that way.)

The judge said "good job" after my speech, and I felt momentarily bad for the defendant. I mean, this is his life, and yet everyone is treating this like a training opportunity for a law student intern. How insulting.

I thought I did pretty well, until I returned to the office and realized that I forgot to mention one important part of the indictment, which outlines the government's forfeiture claims. TK said it didn't matter, but I felt bad. Damn. Oh well. Hopefully this won't give the defendant grounds for appeal.

Did a few other research projects in the meanwhile, and attended court proceeding for a mega RICO case. All very interesting.

:D my burgeoning litigation career. He he.
:( Really need to start reading law books! I haven't read any this summer yet!