(Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm)
The problem is that my clients don’t enjoy the advantages of a well groomed lifestyle. Half of them don’t even know what I mean when I say “dress nice for trial tomorrow when the jury first sees you.”
They think that means show up in jeans with their shirt tucked in, and if they know what kinds of clothes I’m talking about, odds are they can’t afford those ones.
They don’t have impeccable hair cuts or nice things, and juries see that. The clients aren’t as relatable.
Their lack of education and lack of emotional training for a serious, quiet environment is a huge handicap as well.
They may freak out at me in the middle of trial, talk or scribble on their notepad loudly, grab my shoulder a lot, speak under their breath when the jury’s in the room.
When they testify, it tends to go one of two ways:
(1) their grounded, simple sincerity wins the day, or
(2) they give the prosecutor the kitchen sink by admitting to anything asked of them, true or not, or by trying and inevitably failing to outsmart a prosecutor who has 7+ more years of formal education and 20 years of experience under their belt.
Well before trial, those educational and cultural gaps between myself and the client cause problems.
They don’t trust me as much; they often don’t respect me as much.
They don’t bother prepping their case with me. I can’t explain complex concepts and expect them to understand after a few tries.
A lot of the time explaining the way the law works will make them act out with anger, because they are not used to dealing with bad news quietly and constructively.
They will make bad decisions in the lead-up to the case that leave us with handicaps before the trial even starts.
Then there’s the fact that the judge treats them very differently from a wealthier client.
The judge knows what the jury often doesn’t: that this man has a long record, that he’s got experience in the system, that he hasn’t learned his lessons from past wrongs.
Judges treat people with records very differently than they treat wealthy white people with no criminal record who grew up in the suburbs and have their teary-eyed parents watching from the pews.
They don’t give my clients the same benefit of the doubt they might give a wealthier person in a suppression hearing or an evidentiary motion in limine. It’s very subtle, but it’s noticeable.
And they’re definitely going to treat my client differently than a wealthier defendant for a sentencing after they’ve been convicted. That’s where it may hurt more than anything.
It’s not just the priors and mandatory minimums that will fuck my clients — it’s also the fact that they don’t have the support structures at home to succeed on probation or keep their life in tact following a serious sentence.
None of this is to say that there aren’t also related issues with wealthier clients.
Wealth isn’t a guarantee of intelligence or emotional maturity by any means.
But I mean, come on — if I’m in a vacuum, having a medical doctor or a banker for a client is going to be a fucking cakewalk compared to having a homeless veteran with 20 things on his record.
The doctor might be a headache of an entitled client, but he knows what way is up and how to act in a professional setting, to best reduce the chances that his trial blows up for reasons not related to the actual evidence against him.
He’s not going to be sending the signals that trigger the subtle implicit biases judges and prosecutors walk through the door with everyday.
Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.