My father-in-law, a well respected attorney, has been known to say that there are classes of victory. A class “A” victory is one in which you got your client everything they both wanted and hoped for. A class “B” victory is one in which you did as well as anyone could under the circumstances, and better than anything your opponent was willing to agree to. That’s what I got.
As planned, I ran in the door yesterday making a beeline for my closet. As I flew past, my husband commented that he was sorry I was being thrown back into Juvie again. Poking my head out of my closet, I observed that it was more accurate to say I had thrown myself back in. “Well” opined my spouse “someone’s getting railroaded, and it’s made you mad.” I just nodded; that summed it up quite succinctly.
I realized how long it had been since I’d been out there when I didn’t know any of the outer office staff. That turned out not to be a problem. The bailiff may have been new, but the judge wasn’t, and remembered me well enough to tease me a little.
And I got my victory. The child was charged with felony possession of a switchblade, and the prosecutor was demanding immediate detention. He walked out the door with his parents, looking at a year’s probation and a delinquency finding of possession of a knife on school property, which is the lowest level misdemeanor Indiana law holds. I couldn’t make it go away entirely, not when the knife had fallen out of the kid’s pocket in plain sight of the principal. The other things they had piled on for charges simply vanished.
And the judge got informed of his staff’s abuse of authority. I told him that the child’s mother had been denied access and told neither she nor her child had any rights. He was not amused in the least. Judging from the instructions given the bailiff after the hearing was over, someone on the previous day’s evening shift was about to have a very bad day. I learned that I can walk back into Juvie and not freeze like a deer in the headlights. I learned that my reputation carries weight even when I haven’t been there in 7 years. And I did what I wanted; I derailed the judicial express. That part of the victory is class A.
Bravo, Counselor! The Fannish Bar strikes again!
It may not put the overly officious idiots “into Zandru’s coldest Hells”…but t’will serve, t’will serve.
God, I despise bullies.
BTW, your dues have been increased….
Mouthpiece, D.I.
Well done.