For those of you who believe that you have tough clients, you might want to consider the fate of Seattle attorney John Hicks. He represents rapist Curtis S. Thompson who must be wheeled into court with his chest, wrists and ankles bound due to prior threats against attorneys and a judge. That did not stop Thompson from lunging at Hicks in a recent hearing and screaming “You scared to death, ain’t you punk?” Hence the popularity of transactions law.
Thompson is to stand trial in a 2004 rape — one of three such trials for rape and murder. In this case, Thompson, 49, is accused of breaking into a woman’s apartment, repeatedly raping her, and then washing clothes in her laundry room and pouring bleach into her body to try to destroy (unsuccessfully) DNA evidence.
Hicks gets this week’s medal of courage of counsel — a position previously held by Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeffrey Martin.
For the full story, click here.
Hello Jonathanturley,
Interesting Post, Paranoid schizophrenia is a person of the most terrifying psychiatric disorders. Sufferers could perhaps not only experience auditory and visual hallucinations, but they also come to feel overwhelming waves of terror, the sensation that people today are striving to hurt them, or that they are heading to die or do a thing horrible.
Thanks
This is very interesting information. I am doing some research for a class in school. and i liked the post. do you know where I can find other information regarding this? I am finding other information on this but nothing that I can use really in my paper for my final. do you have any suggestions?
mespo-
Thanks for the comments. One thing I have discovered is that while subrogation agreements might not be scintillating, the little work I’ve done outside of criminal law has taught me that while the “stories” might not be quite as dramatic the issues can be just as fascinating, (at least to those of us whose warped minds sent us toward law school). I’ve also learned that I’m incompetent outside of my comfort zone too.
I’ve also come to realize that some of the criticisms leveled against transactional and other lawyers by public defenders and other criminal defense types are sometimes more about the speaker than the target. Sour grapes, in other words.
Thanks for the compliments about going into criminal defense too. However, there are heroes in all areas of the law and the real ones are usually the ones who quietly do the good, usually unappreciated work in any area, taking care of people involved along the way, especially those who live in the house that secures the mortgage.
I’m not familiar with the work of Mary Carter, however, so I can’t tell you whether I agree with her or not. Just kidding.
David:
Lawyer do us all a service by wading into the arena of criminal defense. Even more so the good ones. As you readily see, this is the area where the government seems more willing to subjugate rights of citizens because of its apparent notion that these litigants are less deserving of protection merely because they are CHARGED with crimes. Standing pat makes episodes like Guantanamo and Abu Graid the extreme examples rather than the rule. That you find this interesting is to your credit, and while I agree that scintillating discussions of subrogation or Mary Carter agreements are rare, they do help me pay the mortgage. Good luck in your practice.
I started law school at age 30 and was drawn to criminal defense after attending a variety of meetings at the law school. The criminal defense people just seemed different, seemed to work together more and less devoted to the hierarchy that seems to permeate law school and large firms.
I worked for 7 years as a public defender and finally struck out on my own a couple years ago. Recently I called the bar association for advice on withdrawing from a case when your client, facing charges of terroristic threats and use of a gun to commit a felony, threatened me from jail, right after I told him to watch what he was saying as he was being taped.
One judge refused to let me out of the case even after the client admitted to the threat, evidently thinking that I could “tough it out.” I finally convinced another judge that not only was I required to withdraw but that keeping me on the case was playing into his hands by building an ineffective counsel claim for him. After all, I’d already stated on the record that I couldn’t adequately defend him on these charges after the threat. That finally got their attention in a way that threats to a defense lawyer hadn’t.
The other day, though, the guy, showing me a new level of nerve, called me and requested free help with his child support issues. I declined.
But I still love criminal defense work. All in all, I think it’s likely safer than family law as I deal with a lot of criminals on their best behavior while they deal with a lot of desperate, non-criminals on their worst. While a lot of people are as frustrating to work with as the guy described above, I also get to see amazingly beautiful slices of human nature too. More of my victories seem to come from hearing “I’m sober” than from hearing “not guilty” however and I end up being more social worker/counselor than trial lawyer.
One of the reasons I went into this area of the law was a line by a prominent criminal defense lawyer who came to my law school and asked us a question that made a great point. He said “You ever hear any really good subrogation stories?”
Yikes!
I’m thinking “solitary” or “death by toothbrush”.
Imagine how he treats his cell mate.
He’s a charmer!
Thompason’s new book:
How to make friends and influence a jury.
What a vile pig this guy is.