How Does Your Experience And Your Reputation Affect The Outcomes Of Your Cases?

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you'll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Interviewer: Do you think because you have been doing this so long, prosecutors, judges and the whole other side defer more to you? Do they give you more respect or leeway; and not fight you as much?

Acacia Law: If the judges know me, I think they will give me a lot of latitude. They know how I operate. They know I am working towards a good purpose. That purpose is resolution of a trial, basically to save somebody's life.

Most prosecutors I have dealt with in the past, both the state and the judges, believe I am a straight shooter. I think that is very important. If I say I am going to do something, it means I am going to do it. I do not lie to them.

I will not say I am going to file a motion to continue, or promise; and then not file it and demand the state go to trial when they are unprepared. I do not do stupid things like that. I do not get involved in the normal gamesmanship. Quite frankly, I do not see that as an effective means of getting a client what they want.

I do not have a problem with any specific judge, at all, in the state. With prosecutors, it is the same way. If I worked with them before, they know I am trying to do what I think is right. I will not sandbag him. I will give them the information I have. I will explain to them exactly what I am trying to do.

For example, if I feel a client needs a doctor's help, I am going to tell them. I am going to tell them I am sending him to a doctor and I am going to tell him why. I am going to tell him why I think what occurred, occurred on account of something that was fixable.

If you look at it from the perspective of the state, their job is to protect the community. Well, if you put somebody with psychological problems in prison for 5 years, they come out having the exact same psychological problems. They are going to remain a threat to the community.

Now, if you get them the help they need and give them the medication they may need, then they are no longer a threat to the community. In fact, they have done a 180 in terms of their personality and the way they behave. That is far more important. They would rather put a person like that on probation than put somebody in for 5 years, knowing when they come out they are just going to re-offend and maybe harm or kill somebody.

Interviewer: You mentioned earlier sometimes prosecutors or judges get personal. Why do they get personal? How can you undo that or make it better?

Acacia Law: You have to listen to them to see where they are coming from. In other words, I do not just listen to my client. I listen to the prosecutor. Even if I think they are abrasive or being unreasonable, I still want to know what concerns them. What in this particular case bothers them? What can we address that is sensible?

Some prosecutors are considered tough. They are very tough on crime. They are crusaders, more or less. Again, I just treat them like people. I understand they have their own preconceptions and their own biases, just like every other person on the planet.

They are trying to do a difficult job, to enforce the laws and prosecute the people under the law. It is a difficult task. Again, a lot of it has to do with letting them get to know you, the client, by listening. They will tell you what their problems are with the case and why they are making an offer.

A lot of them will say, "Well, this is part policy." I found it is true there are certain policies in effect; but that is what deviation requests are all about. Listen to the prosecutors even if you might not necessarily agree with them. Find out what their concerns are and what bothers them so much about this particular case. Address those issues.

Then you have basically given them a sensible way of looking at the case from a different perspective. That may not necessarily change their mind. However, it gives them something so they can reevaluate the situation.

I think that is reasonable because, ultimately, they are people too. It is like everything else. You have to learn to read people. That is part of this. You have to treat the prosecutors as people, not just this big behemoth state.

There is a specific prosecutor assigned in the Trial Bureau to your case. That is the one you should be engaging, with respect to your client. Listen to their problems and concerns; and what the policy considerations are. Then, again, try to work within the parameters of addressing their concerns, as well as helping your client simultaneously.

Some just take a hard-nosed perspective because it simply works. I mean most attorneys just fold. However, I do not fold. I listen to them. I listen to where they are coming from and try to work within what is on their mind.