Every jurisdiction is different, but here in my town the court system works a little like this. For jury trials, a certain number of cases are put on a docket for a one-week period. Within those cases, the district attorney's office has control over what we call the "trial order." The trial order serves as a priority list of cases that will be called, as the docket is usually printed alphabetically. All the defendants appear in court on the Monday of the trial week, and essentially they wait around until their case is called. If they are pleading guilty and not having a trial, sometimes they get to go Monday morning; other times they have to wait around all week until there is a break in the action
Next week, I have a total of 23 cases on the docket. The entire docket itself probably has between 75-90 cases. Five of my cases are probation violations, which are extremely important but there's only so much prep work you can do. They don't take place in front of a jury, so even though the stakes are high, stress level is manageable. The rest of my cases could potentially be for trial.
Of the 18 cases that could be for trial, about 11 of them will have non-jury dispositions or continuances. That leaves 7 cases that legitimately could go to trial. Like, tomorrow.
This is where the stress comes in. Part of preparation is talking to the DA's office and discovering where your cases sit on the trial order, what they are willing to work out, etc. You know that not all potential trials will go to trial next week, but which ones that could be are anyone's guess.
As it stands now, I know vaguely what 3-4 cases are on the priority list, but I don't know where they sit; they could be at the top, the bottom, or somewhere in between. The rest of the cases are not "set for trial" so to speak, but if the "trial order" falls apart, we'll be forced to dig into the reserves to conduct business for the rest of the week.
Yeah, if you think just reading this was a headache, you have no idea. Jury trials make me nervous, because I'm still new to them, but really what's worse is the complete unknown, the anxiety of what could happen or what might happen. I'd rather just know already and get all my ducks in a row for X case to go at Y time. The guesswork has my stomach in knots and my brain working overtime to make sure it remembers 1,763 different tasks for each case.
Let's all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. I want to do another jury trial, I just want to do it well.
3 comments:
I need a drink, just thinking about your week. But you can do it! I have confidence.
I can't imagine how nerve wracking the whole process must be, but I have no doubts that you will do brilliantly! You are definitely the kind of person I would want on my side.
I second. .or third what they said.
I'm late, but hope your week has gone well so far! Definitely think you have yourself one helluva drinking game topic, though!
Post a Comment