The Police or Courts Are Out to Get Me!

Sometimes clients think that the cop really didn't like them and the cop is out to get them or screw them over. Or maybe the prosecutor or the judge doesn't like them, and is abusing his or her authority to punish them.

But 9 times out of 10, that is not the case. If the police officer didn’t get mad at you and you weren’t rude to the police officer, then arresting you is just a routine part of their day. Judges and prosecutors clock in for work, and deal with drunk driving cases all the time. They are just not emotionally involved. The honest fact is, neither the judge nor the prosecutor likely care about you at all, either.

If something strange happens in the case it is not someone is out to get you. Much more likely, it is someone that is lazy or incompetent or overworked, and something slipped through the cracks.

For example, if we are having a hard time getting a video in the case, or evidence or witnesses at trial, it is not the courts intent to make your life difficult. If papers get lost in the court system (which has been known to happen), or if we show up to move a court date, and no one knows anything about it, this is just routine government beurocracy at work.

The Massachusetts court system is going through a budget crisis. They are getting less money every year and they are losing personnel.

It's an unfortunate mess, and the court system is sloppy and inconsistent. Situations caused by can often affect DUI cases. Sometimes it does hurt our clients, but more often sloppiness or inefficiency actually moves in favor of a client.

My experience is all my DUI trials tells me that, as long as I don’t try to make a police officer look bad on the witness stand, and they don’t have a personal stake in the case, they weren’t mad at you. They really don’t care what happens either way.

Situtations like this happen regularly: I meet with the client several times preparing for trial, spent many hours going over strategy, visit the scene where they were pulled over with them, walked through the entire event, review hearing transcriptions, and custom trial analysis preparation notes. I am fully prepared with the all of the specific facts of this case, and ready to argue the case at trial.

We go to court, and are about ready to start a trial and 5 or 10 minutes before we are about to start, one prosecutor hands the file off to another one who has never even looked at the case, and the new prosecutor just wings the trial.

If there was a big conspiracy to screw my client, that’s a pretty poor way to enact it.

Now this doesn’t mean that everyone will be fair and evenhanded towards my client. The judge or prosecutor or cop may be unreasonable or unfair or even biased, but it’s probably the way they are towards everyone. Some cops and judges are just tough or mean. But it is hardly ever a personal grudge against the defendant, so taking it personally is not helpful, and will just make a stressful situation worse for you.

Russell Matson is the founding attorney of The Law Offices of Russell J. Matson, PC a criminal defense law firm in Massachusetts. His web site is http://madrunk.pdxids.com.

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