What is it like to be a public defender?

Its tough.  Watch an episode of COPS and imagine those as your clients.  Watch an episode of Law and Order.  Those are not your clients.

• your clients are actually guilty most of the time;
• they often times don't appreciate the work you do;
• they often times aren't that smart (see my story below about the guy I represented who was busted as a result of the same informant, TWICE);
• they often times can't provide you with a lot of help.  "Joe saw, he can tell you."  "Where do I find Joe?"  "I dunno."  "What is Joe's last name?"  "I dunno."
• you have more limited resources than the prosecutor.  Often times a lot more limited resources.

I remember my first case on the federal indigent defense panel in Portland, Oregon.  I came to the realization that my job was basically to get the guy to plead guilty and get him warehoused in a federal penitentiary. 

That sucked.  My legal training and trial skills were basically irrelevant.  There was no legal magic to perform.  There was no Perry Mason moment that was going to happen if he went to trial . . . only a harsher sentence. Then explaining to his father what was gong to happen.

That case had a happier ending than expected, and its humorous moments. 

In between his first offense and the crime on which I was representing him, federal sentencing guidelines went into effect.  So, when I presented him with the plea deal from the prosecutor, he was shocked because he had been expecting something pre guidelines and much lighter (so was I, really).  I remember him getting pretty upset in the jail interview room.

In court, he fired me.  Called me incompetent.  A better lawyer would have gotten him a better deal, he proclaimed.  That kind of abuse from clients is common for public defenders. 

The Judge said I was fine, but let me go, as he needed to do.

As it turned out, a lot of his case rested on evidence (tapes and testimony) from an informant who had literally been responsible for convicting him in the past! Really, you can't make this stuff up.  I think the informant said he had stopped informing, and my guy believed him which led to the case in which I was defending him.

I was told later by his new lawyer that the informant got into trouble, so the feds had to drop the case.

Its probably tougher being the defender at the federal level.  The feds have a lot more resources at their disposal than local law enforcement.  My experience was they generally do a more thorough job of investigating before bringing a case, so they are much stronger cases.  In fact, when I was a Deputy District Attorney in Portland, Oregon, I remember jokes about the Assistant United States Attorneys because the AUSAs only seemed to bring easy cases.  I think that circulated around the office in an trial summary memo after the US Attorney's Office kicked a bank robbery case and the DA's office picked it up and secured a conviction. 

For example, that case I was talking about was a distribution of heroin and cocaine (retail). They set up a 3-4 tape recorded buys on this one guy with either the FBI or the DEA as the investigating agency. 

Now think about a date rape case.  A state level offense.   Hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt but if you are the prosecutor, you need to bring it.  If you're the public defender, that's a case you'd much rather be defending than the drug case outlined above.  Basically, I think state law enforcement gets put in that situation a lot more than federal. 

I speak with limited experience.  I was on the federal indigent defense panel in Portland, Oregon and only handled a few cases in that capacity.  I was supervised by the federal public defender's office in that jurisdiction and trained with them.