I saw a case come before me that truly confused me, where the puzzle pieces just weren’t fitting. It was a larceny, probably the most common felony accusation that comes before us. The incident in question had occurred in 2015, at this point in time 2 years prior; which is pretty rare. Usually if there is a long length of time between the date of a crime and the court appearances, then there was some lab analysis (of drugs or DNA), for example. But this case didn’t have that, and in fact all of the documents were dated shortly after the event had occurred. I asked my lawyer why we were just getting this case, and if this person has been sitting in jail for 2 years. He looked at the bond and it was again a PR bond, meaning the person was let go. He didn’t know why we were just getting it, so I kept flipping through to read on.

 

This woman had stolen a credit card with her then boyfriend, and spent over $1000 one night with the card. The documents showing the transaction history were dated for shortly after the alleged incident, meaning that detectives had compiled all of their evidence in a timely manner; certainly not taking 2 years’ time. Then I found a note; the client had fled to Texas shortly after this crime and she had been living there ever since. This did not sound like the larceny cases I had worked on in the past, considering she had been evading police for two years and they still only gave her a PR bond.

 

At the end of the case summary I was beyond confused, but then saw that there were photos in the file. A photo of the car, the male passenger, and finally the defendant’s mug shot from some point in time. She was a young Caucasian female, and she was beautiful. Her green eyes still strike me.

 

When we met with her at the court house on the day of her probable cause conference, I still remember the way people looked at her in the courtroom. It was so noticeable to the point that it was humorous, how much nicer the police and judges were. An aura of confusion surrounded her, and she stuck out like a sore thumb. In the end, she was offered a plea deal that many would beg to receive. Even with multiple other charges stacked up against her, she was given the time of day and treated like I haven’t seen others treated since.

 

A research study I read from the 1970’s found that during an eight-month period, blacks were found guilty more often than whites; 41.4% of the time compared to 28.3%. Blacks are also placed on probation in less than 1/3 of the felony cases, meaning they get some jail time (California Law Review, 178). Furthermore, when blacks end up getting the chance to speak in front of the court, the study found that the judge generally sentenced them in less time than those involving whites, which is already staggering considering that 80% cases were concluded in less than 10 minutes, and 40% in less than 3 minutes.

 

I can vouch for this personally. The day before people are due in court the judge releases a docket, a fancy word for the schedule the following day. On this docket are people’s names, crime, prosecutor, public defender, and court room. Typically, there are around 60 cases heard per day, split between 2 courtrooms. Out of these 60 cases, maybe 2 or 3 will be having a preliminary examination (the step before a trial). The rest of the people end up taking a plea agreement. So, how long does it take on average to go through those 60 case proceedings? 2 hours. The judge appears at 9AM and by 10:30-11AM it’s already time to leave. Most of the cases I see last less than 2 minutes, maybe 10 if you speak quietly or if you have a long story of guilt when accepting a plea deal.