Erin walked into my office. Actually she made an entrance. Apart from being a lovely warm hearted person and a fine attorney she was also the office diva. She never "just did" anything.
She asked me if I would talk to one of her clients. She could turn on the charm like a fire hose.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Angeline Billy. Navajo girl."
"I gathered that. Something wrong?'
"I've two trials to prep and..."
"Alright. What's the story?"
"She is nineteen and charged with ADW. She is also borderline developmentally disabled and you have experience in that area."
As Erin told me the story my Scots-Italian blood began to simmer. Father had never been in the picture and she had been raised by her mother who had pimped her out from the age of nine to buy drugs and booze. "She hates men. Is scared of them and can react badly." Great. Seems she was living with her grandmother in Kirtland. The house needed a new flashlight so her grandmother asked Angeline to walk down to the hardware store and price them up. Come home with a price. She went to the store and picked up a flashlight. The manager came screaming from behind the counter yelling "***ing injuns! Robbing me blind!" and got into Angeline's face. She reacted the only way she knew how. She clouted him. With the flashlight. Hard. Twice. Dropped the flashlight to the floor and stood there.
The police came and she was taken to the county lock up where she spent the night in a cell. Alone. I can only guess but she was probably expecting a man to come and visit.
"Let me have the file."
"I brought it with me. Thanks." she trilled and made her exit. As she walked through the door she reminded me of a three masted schooner leaving harbor.
I read the file. It was all there. Statement of the victim and witnesses. Police report. They were quick with this one. Surprising. I headed up to the jail.
Angeline had been moved from the cell to a bare room. Just a mat on the floor. i was let in to the room and she was sitting crossed legged on the mat. She was achingly pretty. She looked up at me with eyes that were small wells of fear and distrust. I sat cross legged on the floor.
"Hello Angeline. I'm Les Currie with the Public Defenders Office and we want to help you. Would you like us to help you?"
No answer.
"Are you thirsty? Would you like some water?"
An almost imperceptible nod.
I got up (she flinched), woke the inbred at the door and asked him to bring four bottles of water. "They're a buck each."
I gave him $5. "Bring five."
"You must be thirsty."
"My client is. How long as she been in there?"
"Since breakfast."
"Five hours and nothing to eat or drink?"
"She didn't ask."
I resisted the urge to kick him in the balls and went back and sat facing Angeline. I decided to do the interview backward.
The cretin returned with the water. I gave four to Angeline and opened one for me.
"Could you tell me what happened?."
Silence. I sipped at my water and Angeline took a sip of hers. Then she spoke. So quietly. It was as it said in the file. She was looking at flashlights when the man yelled at her and she hit him. It took her the best part of an hour to tell me. By this time my blood was boiling. I got the rest of the details I needed and prepared to leave
"We are going to help you Angeline. I am going to go and try to get you released from here. I'll be back to see you soon."
As I got to the door I heard "Thank you Leskree. Thank you Leskree". Did you ever feel your heart swell?
I got back to the office, told Erin what I had done and asked if I could keep the case. She smiled and said yes. What she wanted all along. called in a favor to schedule a bond hearing for the afternoon. Over the objections of the store manager (after two minutes I wanted to hit him myself) and the ADA the Judge granted her ROR in the custody of her grandmother.
Two weeks later we appeared before the Court to offer our plea. Simple assault with a commitment to a group home where she could be supervised, take her meds and be monitored. The grandmother was happy with this. She was in her seventies. Our wonderful office social worker, Katie, had already found the right facility.
So Angeline went off to Bernalillo to live in a home run by a fabulous Mexican lady named Cynthia.
About a year later I had a conflict case in Albuquerque and on the way home I stopped in Bernalillo for gas and coffee. I walked in the store and heard "Leskree! Leskree!!" There was Angeline with the biggest smile you ever saw. She gave me a hug and told me she was doing well, working at the store two days a week, going to school two evenings a week and feeling good about herself. She hugged me again and as I was leaving she said "'Bye Leskree. Thank you Leskree."
I couldn't drive away immediately, I had something in my eye.
There is a lot of 'me' and 'I' in this. I don't know another way to say it. But it's really no more than than hundreds of public defenders do every day.
She asked me if I would talk to one of her clients. She could turn on the charm like a fire hose.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Angeline Billy. Navajo girl."
"I gathered that. Something wrong?'
"I've two trials to prep and..."
"Alright. What's the story?"
"She is nineteen and charged with ADW. She is also borderline developmentally disabled and you have experience in that area."
As Erin told me the story my Scots-Italian blood began to simmer. Father had never been in the picture and she had been raised by her mother who had pimped her out from the age of nine to buy drugs and booze. "She hates men. Is scared of them and can react badly." Great. Seems she was living with her grandmother in Kirtland. The house needed a new flashlight so her grandmother asked Angeline to walk down to the hardware store and price them up. Come home with a price. She went to the store and picked up a flashlight. The manager came screaming from behind the counter yelling "***ing injuns! Robbing me blind!" and got into Angeline's face. She reacted the only way she knew how. She clouted him. With the flashlight. Hard. Twice. Dropped the flashlight to the floor and stood there.
The police came and she was taken to the county lock up where she spent the night in a cell. Alone. I can only guess but she was probably expecting a man to come and visit.
"Let me have the file."
"I brought it with me. Thanks." she trilled and made her exit. As she walked through the door she reminded me of a three masted schooner leaving harbor.
I read the file. It was all there. Statement of the victim and witnesses. Police report. They were quick with this one. Surprising. I headed up to the jail.
Angeline had been moved from the cell to a bare room. Just a mat on the floor. i was let in to the room and she was sitting crossed legged on the mat. She was achingly pretty. She looked up at me with eyes that were small wells of fear and distrust. I sat cross legged on the floor.
"Hello Angeline. I'm Les Currie with the Public Defenders Office and we want to help you. Would you like us to help you?"
No answer.
"Are you thirsty? Would you like some water?"
An almost imperceptible nod.
I got up (she flinched), woke the inbred at the door and asked him to bring four bottles of water. "They're a buck each."
I gave him $5. "Bring five."
"You must be thirsty."
"My client is. How long as she been in there?"
"Since breakfast."
"Five hours and nothing to eat or drink?"
"She didn't ask."
I resisted the urge to kick him in the balls and went back and sat facing Angeline. I decided to do the interview backward.
The cretin returned with the water. I gave four to Angeline and opened one for me.
"Could you tell me what happened?."
Silence. I sipped at my water and Angeline took a sip of hers. Then she spoke. So quietly. It was as it said in the file. She was looking at flashlights when the man yelled at her and she hit him. It took her the best part of an hour to tell me. By this time my blood was boiling. I got the rest of the details I needed and prepared to leave
"We are going to help you Angeline. I am going to go and try to get you released from here. I'll be back to see you soon."
As I got to the door I heard "Thank you Leskree. Thank you Leskree". Did you ever feel your heart swell?
I got back to the office, told Erin what I had done and asked if I could keep the case. She smiled and said yes. What she wanted all along. called in a favor to schedule a bond hearing for the afternoon. Over the objections of the store manager (after two minutes I wanted to hit him myself) and the ADA the Judge granted her ROR in the custody of her grandmother.
Two weeks later we appeared before the Court to offer our plea. Simple assault with a commitment to a group home where she could be supervised, take her meds and be monitored. The grandmother was happy with this. She was in her seventies. Our wonderful office social worker, Katie, had already found the right facility.
So Angeline went off to Bernalillo to live in a home run by a fabulous Mexican lady named Cynthia.
About a year later I had a conflict case in Albuquerque and on the way home I stopped in Bernalillo for gas and coffee. I walked in the store and heard "Leskree! Leskree!!" There was Angeline with the biggest smile you ever saw. She gave me a hug and told me she was doing well, working at the store two days a week, going to school two evenings a week and feeling good about herself. She hugged me again and as I was leaving she said "'Bye Leskree. Thank you Leskree."
I couldn't drive away immediately, I had something in my eye.
There is a lot of 'me' and 'I' in this. I don't know another way to say it. But it's really no more than than hundreds of public defenders do every day.
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