#public defenders

[milkydraws8]

The Public Defenders, an informal group of New York businesses that look out for the little guy

Matthew 'Matt' Murdock of Nelson and Murdock, a struggling small-time legal firm. Beloved and broke for his near-suicidal opposition to the various mobs and penchant for hopeless pro-bono work. Outspoken against the so-called 'Devil of Hell's Kitchen'.

Daniel 'Danny' Rand, ex-boy millionaire back from the dead. Claims to have trained with mystical monks in an ancient magical temple. Lost his legacy to his father's company, doesn't seem to care. Has a killer right hook.

Lucas 'Luke' Cage, ex-con and almost-murdered inmate at Seagate Penitentiary. Got a new lease on life and an old lease on a barbershop. Never been much of a leader but apparently he's kinda good at it. Currently the biggest pain in the ass for Harlem's criminal underworld. Has pretty thick skin.

Jessica Jones. Not sure what she's doing. Obviously a lot less of a hard-ass than she tries to present herself as. Surprisingly good at soft-skills. Can hold her liquor.

Jennifer Walters. Loudest one in the room. Pretty sensational, almost greasy lawyer. Never does anything egregiously against the law. Actually could be doing a lot worse, although she could be doing a lot better. Having way too much fun to change. Has a famous cousin.

Mercedes "Misty" Knight. About this 🤏 close from losing her badge and gun. About this close 👌 from losing her arm. Got a mechanical replacement, luckily.

[bishopmyrielfundraiser]

The Bishop Myriel Fundraiser will be back this year!

And once again raising money for public defender organizations, which provide free legal representation to poor people facing criminal charges. A good lawyer can make all the difference, preventing an unjustly high sentence or a wrongful conviction, but many public defenders are overstretched and undervalued.

I will be posting a schedule and a list of recommended organizations in the next few weeks, plus a refresher on the rules, and the fundraiser will take place in late November/early December. After that, you can start sending your posts offering fanfics, art, crafts, cosplay items, and more to be auctioned off for the Bishop Myriel Fundraiser.

So happy to be back!

[high-quality-tiktoks]

The call is coming from inside the legal house of horrors

[xkcdbracket]

Supreme Court Bracket

Remember that this is a silly Tumblr poll, and these two things are not actually in conflict. So don't get too heated in the notes.

Public Defenders. In the case Gideon v. Wainwright the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide an attorney or lawyer to defendants in criminal cases who are unable to afford their own attorneys.

Birth Control. In the case Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Court ruled that a statute barring birth control to prevent pregnancy, also known as contraception, was unconstitutional, at least in its application to married couples, as there was an implicit right to privacy in the ''penumbras'' and ''emanations'' of other constitutional provisions. This ruling was used as precedent in Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), which extended the right to unmarried couples, and in Roe v. Wade and Lawrence v. Texas (see below).

[remembertheplunge]

The burden of all this can't just rest on my shoulders

September 22, 1997

Their world, by the day, by the hour, floats away from me.

Now, from the outside, they begin to appear as a tense, tired wired ball. Straining, struggling to hold itself together. 

I was going to set the alarm tonight, then figured, why bother. I have nothing to get up for in the morning.

The big wire ball rejected me. It spins frantically out into space.It no longer needs my intensity. My neurosis. My perversity.

Fall’s first day.  Jim and I have Loved away an entire season. He said tonight “I’m lucky to have you. We have fun together."

I need my sleep.

They need to set their alarms so that they don’t miss a second of their tortured hell of an existence.

On August 29, 1997, when I was fired, I had 40 active felony files.

October 2, 1997

The 5th week out from being fired.

Jim didn’t call, so, I called him and he was quite caustic.

He wants me to see a shrink.

 To see Phil .He can’t understand my “denial”.

I’ve been through years of torment.

Years.

I stood up.

I fought the good fight.

I told Dad later, I need rest. A rest.

Not a shrink.

I will see a shrink. I guess.

But, why? 

I feel great.

I feel healthy.

All day, I thought “Phil would say “Good, Lew, rest.’

Jim says he loves me. But he was abusive tonight.

He demanded to know what I did today.

When I said “I feel dead”

He said “I know, we’ve been through that, many times. See Phil”

We haven’t been through it yet. It’s the first time I’ve said it. 

His friend Wayne said “ Lew should leave the firing behind him.”

Jim says he loves me. 

He wants me to come over to his house in San Fransisco tomorrow, early..

I think he’ll leave me.

Abandon me.

The burden of all this can’t just rest on my shoulders.

End of this part of the entries

Note:

The above entries were written not long after I was fired from my job at the Stanislaus County Public Defender’s Office. I had stood up for the rights of gays and for the rights of people with Aids and in part, I believe, those lead to a series of events over a four year period that caused me to be fired. 

My new partner  Jim, who owned a home in San Fransisco, was struggling with the situation. He stuck with me though. We were together for 12 years until his death in 2009.

The tense, tired , wire ball I describe in the first paragraph was the Public Defender’s office. I had worked there for a decade.  Phil was a counselor who I saw during the four year period mentioned above.

[whatthepublicdefender]

When the victim of a robbery / attempted murder is asked to identity the person who assaulted him and he points to a juror and says, "That guy looks like him." (True story.)

[teachanarchy]

Watch "The Shortage Pushing Legal Systems to the Brink" on YouTube

[thedawgsblog]

ANOTHER BOLD MOVE BY A JUDGE AGAINST A COMMISION THAT REFUSES TO ACT

ANOTHER BOLD MOVE BY A JUDGE AGAINST A COMMISION THAT REFUSES TO ACT

They couldn’t agree to fire the lawyer in charge of Oregon public defenders. Now, they’re fired. Oregon’s chief justice on Monday took the unprecedented step of firing the commission that oversees the state’s public defense system days after its members failed to oust the program’s embattled director. Chief Justice Martha Walters informed the nine-member commission of her decision by letter.…

[ef-1]

Everyone moved on but I stayed there

[xkcdbracket]

Supreme Court Bracket

Remember that this is a silly Tumblr poll, and these two things are not actually in conflict. So don't get too heated in the notes.

School Desegregation. State laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. It stated that ''separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.''

Public Defenders. In the case Gideon v. Wainwright the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide an attorney or lawyer to defendants in criminal cases who are unable to afford their own attorneys.

[remembertheplunge]

Long Train Running

September 9, 1989. Saturday

Long Train Running.

Will some eyes read this 300 years hence? Or, are all our words and deeds herein destined for my eyes only? 

I picked up a book which reflected a diary kept by a man in1660. He lived through a plague and a revolution. He spoke of spending a little on pleasure now, for, if you wait, you may grow too old to enjoy it. 

Fred Small said today “We, in all our pain, in all that we care about, won’t be remembered in 100 years. I agreed verbally, but, somehow, know it not to be true.

For, every little step is important. As Alan Watts says “A fruit fly born and living a million years ago for a brief time was vital to the balance and to the puzzle of it all.”

We may not be recalled individually. In fact, who cares if we are? We will be long dead. But, the spirit of the effort, of the collective process, will still be living. And, that’s why each present building block is important.

"Time is the only thing that we all have the same amount of, so, it’s important to consider how we spend it.” Quote from ancient woman in ancient evening.

Quote from Graffiti board at Cask and Cleaver Bar “No matter where I go, there I am.”

I mentioned this to Fred Small, who left San Diego at 11pm last night arriving at Riverbank at 10am via bus and Amtrak train. He chuckled . It hit home.  He kept saying today “It doesn’t matter where you go, people and situations are the same.. Just, in the case of San Diego, more of the same. 

And, we had a good day together, book ended by silver trains guided into impatient stops by breathless winds and valley sighs. And, as the train lights moved off to meld into memory and endless track, the closure was loneliness.

He races away from what ails him. He will pass Donald DeCamp in Bakersfield on his way down. Another refugee from the embattled Public Defender’s office.

And, I stood there in the fading light. And I watched until he disappeared. And, I knew it was ok to go home.

End of this part of the entry

Note.

Fred Small and I were Deputy Public Defenders together in Modesto, California. In 1989, there were openings in the San Diego Public Defender’s office and at least two lawyers from our office, including Fred, got hired there. I decided not to apply to work in San Diego. Don De Camp also had been a lawyer in our Modesto office,. He left to become a deputy District Attorney in Bakersfield.

Apparently, Fred Small took the train up from San Diego to Riverbank station which is near Modesto, and returned to San Diego by train the same day. That is what I am describing in the above entry.

Alan Watts was a philosopher and writer who died in 1973

[lilaccatholic]

Complex feelings about copyright and Disney's appalling ethics aside, it does unsettle me how quickly people jump to make and monetize the most unnerving, depraved content imaginable about characters created for children the second it hits the public domain

[whatthepublicdefender]

Anonymous asked: tfw the sentencing guidelines recommend probation for your 19-year-old offender with no history, but the judge gives him 10 years in prison.

[dykeseinfeld]

shitty majoring in gender and sexuality focused on masculinity studies and team sports which is super interesting and cool (and a space where it can actually be refreshing to have male voices) and it may be tempting to read the double major in poli sci as focusing on gender equality and lgbt rights but there's a world where he focused on cold war tensions and how the soviet union and the united states used sports as an arena for competition, sports as an arena of political protest and defining piece of the nation state in itself, also the exploitation of athletes across racial gender and class divisions in college and in professional leagues