Last Day, 3/29/12

Well it’s finally here, the last day.  Today was interesting because I went to felony court that took two hours more than expected because of a visiting judge that took a great deal of time to get through each case.  It wasn’t that he was a slow guy he just talked through every detail of the each case.  Which I would guess is great for the defendant but quite annoying for Christian and his fellow attorneys.  After that I met with Christian and went through my presentation with him and Nicolas’s case file.  He got a kick out of Nick’s case and really like the presentation board.  We talked a little about how it was great working there and that he was so proud of how well I worked over the course of the three weeks.  How I had such a great experience and it was immensely valuable.  I once again said thanks to both Christian and Todd Risberg.  I think I’ll miss working with all the great people at the DA’s.  I also never properly thanked the support staff so I thank all of you that helped me with my project.  Thank you all it has been great. 

One Day Left, 3/28/12

Today I worked on my project for the majority of the day and into the evening.  I got everything I had onto a display board and it looks great.  I have several flowcharts that depict data from my experiment including the total recidivism rate of both groups and then I split it into recidivism of those who were marijuana related or alcohol related.

I then worked on getting a fake case file finished with Nicolas Cage as a minor in possession.  I wrote a incident report and then took a real mug shot of Cage and put his info into an intake report and put all of that into a real case file folder.  I think that I’ll do great at exhibition tomorrow.

Two Days Left! 3/27/12

Today was a very productive day.  I worked on my project some more and got some great ideas to towards what else to add to my presentation for exhibition.  I will be presenting on a tri-fold board and will be displaying a lot of pie charts.  I also came up with the idea of creating a mock case file.  Since I can’t display any names of real people in the system I chose to do someone everyone should know: Nicolas Cage.  Through clever copying, white out and scanning I was able to start on a fake case file for all those going to my exhibition to rifle through.  I think this will be a great learning experience for anyone who reads the case file since I am constructing it exactly like a real one would be constructed.  I wrote an incident report written by my Sheriff persona depicting cage being charged with underage consumption of alcohol.  I will be placing it in a real file from the office, blank of course, and adding the, case summary, incident report, sentencing report, and some other items.  Since 75% of a case file is BS nonsense I am strictly adding what you need to know to understand the case.  

Day Eleven, 3/26/12

Today was another boring day.  I worked some more on my project and got quite far.  I finished both my spreadsheets and started working on the presentation aspect of it.  What Christian and I thought about was to look at what type of MIP (Minor in Possession) would have a lower or higher % of recidivism.  I noticed that in the non Community Conference group there was more of alcohol convictions compared to the Conference participants who had more marijuana related convictions.  We decided to break some pie charts into a flow chart, a pie-flow.  Sounds tasty.  Anyway I would split each group into marijuana related and alcohol related cases, then split those into first offence and repeat offence in order to determine who had a higher recidivism rate: alcohol or marijuana.  That was an interesting prospect and I am looking forward to creating my pie-flow.

Two Weeks Down, 2/23/12

Well I’ve kept you guys waiting long enough, today was an awesome day, and super valuable for both my personally and for my LINK internship.  Before I get to the good stuff I have to bore you with the not so fun stuff.  This morning I worked on my project some more and got started on the write-up of my experiment.  Thank you Steve for the practice at writing a scientific style lab report, I am using that as a base framework for my write-up.  I then plugged in some more of the criminal histories into my spreadsheet.  Since Christian was gone again today I was getting my orders from Mr. Risberg this morning, the elected DA, the big boss man.  I was at first a little nervous to meet and even talk to Todd because of his position.  I figured him for an up tight, strict, rules! kind of guy but once I got to know him, he’s just like any other one of the workers their… except he’s their boss.  I find that really cool that you can have an important boss man and at the same time have a good friend and co worker.  That’s what I like about the DAs Office is that everyone’s friendly to each other.  I’m already getting pestered by one of them. 

            Now to the good part!  At 1:30 I met with Joe Gabbard at the SO (Sheriff’s Office) and got a tour of the jail and surrounding facilities.  That is a massive building! i got to talking with Joe to see what he did and we got around to why I wanted to be in law enforcement.  Originally I had this huge interest in being a SWAT sniper and I still do.  I told Joe this and found out he is the head sniper for the Durango SWAT team! NO WAY!  Small world isn’t it.  That was extremely valuable talking to him about what was involved and what he does, how much training he does, etc.  He was telling me that for a sniper team it was 99% training, recon, observation and intelligence gathering, and 1% shooting, and a lot of their work is strictly looking and observing and gathering information.  It’s funny the shows you watch that portray the police as super hectic and shootouts every day, but in reality it’s a lot of paperwork and getting information.  One thing I will say is that they appear to have a blast though.  I overheard a conversation between Joe and a coworker about that coworker losing a game of poker with pocket kings!  Yah, sounds like a whole lot of no fun to me.  As we toured the facility we went into a interview room.  At first glance it looks like an ordinary room, but under closer inspection, what looks like a screw hole in the ceiling is actually a microphone.  And a busted corner of the ceiling is a camera.  We continued to the jail portion and as we traveled each door would unlock as we got to it, which is really cool when you get to the door and it buzzes and then you can open it.  As we traveled farther into (what I will point out feels a lot like a maze) the jail, we went down the drab cement hallway were we came to a door that unlocked as we got there.  As Joe opened the door I found myself in a tech paradise, just like the ones in the movies.  The ones with the three TV screens full of video camera feeds.  Yup just like that.  It was super surprising to see that tech room all of a sudden; it just didn’t fit amongst the cement walls of the jail.  Three TVs sat on a desk, the two outside ones full of video feeds from all over the jail, inmates walking here and there with there nice orange jumpsuits.  The middle TV, the biggest of the three, had the entire floor plan of the jail with a little camera icon at every location there was a camera.  The operator clicked on one and could see the door and could unlock it from there.  Those were the guys that let us in.  We continued to booking where they book in every inmate that enters the jail.  That’s where they go when the cop sais “book him.”  I got to see the giant sally port they have at the jail, as well as the giant steel doors that lead into the sally port.  They looked like they were form an aircraft carrier.  We then went into what Joe called the “fishbowl” which was similar to the first tech room but overlooked three cell blocks, or pods as they call them.  The glass was one way so the inmates couldn’t see us.  That concluded the tour and we went back to Joe’s office and talked a bit more until I left.

            On a personal note Joe runs a shooting class that is almost open to the public in a few weeks.  At the moment he trains military and law enforcement how to shoot effectively.  I am super excited because I may get to take the class and get shooting more accurately. 

            The tour of the SO was one of the most valuable experiences I have had during LINK, if not the most.

Day Nine, 3/22/12

Well I’m sorry this week has been so boring, same with today.  Christian was out today so I worked on my project all day which is looking great and is almost finished.  I showed up there this morning not knowing what I was going to be doing but luckily Christian was on top of it and I had a stack of cases ready to be plugged into my spreadsheet.  The cases were the MIP (Minors in Possession) that had not gone through the Community Conference.  I entered them into my spreadsheet, and thanks to the hard working helpers, I got to enter the criminal histories in as well.  Today was rather dull but I’m looking forward to tomorrow because I may tour the Sheriffs Office. 

My Interview with Christian

Day Eight, 3/21/12

Today was another boring day for you guys because it wasn’t a very eventful.  The very first thing we did was Christian and I got into a great discussion about what I should study in college.  He was saying that in order to become a cop or detective, which is my desired career path, there was really no required college degree.  All that is required is Police Academy training which I already knew I was going to take regardless of college.  College isn’t a requirement but it for sure helps a lot.  Christian gave me a great visual, that there was this great big oval, and he drew out an oval, that represents all of the Academy graduates.  Then he drew a coupe small circles above the oval, these represented the officers, generals, and chiefs of police that would be observing over the oval.  If I wanted to look good, and be at the top of the oval, a college degree in criminology, psychology, writing, would greatly improve my chances at getting the attention of those circles.  That was a real eye opener because I thought I would need a degree on order to be accepted to a police department.  That was a valuable conversation, thanks Christian. After that Christian had “Cattle Call” which is basically going through all of the low key cases and discussing it with the Δ and deciding what their options are.  They call it cattle call because of the amount of cases that come through the court.  There are about 30-50 cases during cattle call so 4-5 attorneys speedily go through each case and try to get those done very methodically and fast.  After that I worked on my project until I left at noon.  I had a half day today because I didn’t really have a lot to do today.  Christian is leaving tomorrow and I was finished, for the time being, with my project so the rest of the day would have consisted of me watching Christian working.  

Lucky 7, 3/20/12

Today was very uneventful day for anyone reading my posts because I kept to myself for the better part of the day; well actually all day.  Today I conducted my mentor interview with Christian, so there really isn’t much to talk about.  I recorded the interview and am going to post that shortly.  I spent some time editing things out; Christian was clearing his throat quite often so I edited his coughing out.  It seems to be really smooth and a great interview, I hope you all learn a little about Christian by listening to it.  Once I got finished editing I continued to work on my project, until the end of the day.  One thing that was fun was Rachael, Animas’ internship coordinator, dropped by and talked to me about what I was doing.  We discussed what I was doing for my project and what I had done the last week.  She also asked me what one thing I had a “this is awesome” moment, which was the trail from last Thursday.

3/19/12, One Week Down

Wow that was so fast!  I can’t believe a week has already gone by, it’s like I just started.  Today was a very boring day for someone who isn’t into the court system, because both attorneys were quite winded.  Lucky for me I am so it was only partially dull.  Christian had a Motions Hearing this morning and I tagged along.  Basically a motions hearing is where the judge decides if the motions made during a case will be accepted or denied.  A motion is a device used to bring a contested issue into court for a judge to decide on.  In this case there were two major motions and maybe six or seven that are not as relevant so I won’t bore you with them.  In the case the Δ was detained and a dispute in the case was that he was interrogated before he was Mirandized (Read his Miranda rights).  Christian got up in front of the judge and gave some evidence to the judge.  An FYI the judge was a visiting (not employed at the court house) judge so no from the DA’s knew him; Christian said he doesn’t care for surprises regarding judges.  The argument brought by the Defense Attorney was that the Δ was interrogated before he was Mirandized, which basically meant that the Δ was asked questions without knowing he had the right to remain silent.  That’s a big problem for the defense.  However the report, written by the officer that responded and also testified, stated that no statements were made during the incident.  The officer did read the Δ Miranda and he was detained legally, however another motion debated that there was an unconstitutional search of the property in question.  There was a search and seizure of t evidence in the home the Δ was taken from, but no warrant was issued.  The law states, well actually the constitution states in the 4^th amendment that there must be a warrant in order to search or seize any property.  This law has some exceptions however.  A law called hot pursuit allows police to pursue a suspect if there is probable cause of a crime committed outside the property in question.  In civilian terms if a suspect is known to have committed a crime, on the street for instance, runs inside his house it is legal to proceed inside the house to detain the suspect.  Another exception is destruction of evidence.  If there is probable cause (51% positive) evidence may be compromised then search and seizure is legal.  So if the policeman knocks on the door of a suspected drug dealer and a few seconds later hears a toilet flush, he has the right to search the property because the suspected drugs may be being destroyed by the loo. 

Since there was no warrant or verbal permission given, the defense motioned for a suppression of evidence (meaning the jury would not be given this evidence) because it was seized unlawfully and unconstitutionally.  Luckily both motions were denied.  If they had been sustained Christian would have had a tough time proving the case because he wouldn’t have had the evidence the policeman collected.  Good work Christian!

Fun Fact:  Did you know that every case that has been questioned or disputed is written down and published in these thick books.  I’d hate to have to read one.  When a disputed case arises that is similar in nature to one in the past it is looked back upon as solid ground as to how to deal with that case.  Each case is so named by the Δ’s last name.  They are written as Name vs. Name.  Your Miranda rights were actually named after a case like this.  In Miranda vs. Arizona a Δ was interrogated without knowing he could consult an attorney first.  This was recorded and later made into a law.  That’s where the name for your “Miranda rights” originated from.  Pretty interesting. 

Five's a Week, 3/16/12

Today was a relatively mellow day and because of yesterday being such a busy day.  Basically from 9-11 me and Christian had a very in depth debrief of yesterdays Trial.  Basically we talked about how well each charge had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  I was confident that the two counts of harassment the Δ was charged with were quite well proven by the prosecutor, Brian, so I was confident the jury would feel the same.  The third charge was false imprisonment and I was a little hesitant on what exactly happened because all of the four witnesses had slightly different stories.  These little inconsistencies were what gave the jury a reasonable doubt.  I had to leave yesterday at 3:30 so I missed the verdict but I was properly informed by Brian that the Δ was found guilty of 2 of 3 charges, both harassment charges just as I had thought.  After that I worked on my project a little more, got all my files in order and started in on the spreadsheet to keep me organized.  I was intending on leaving at noon but Christian said there was going to be some interviews beginning at 1:00.  I thought that would be a great learning experience for me in the future so I sat in on one of them and learned a great deal of tips and tricks for an interview in the future.  

Day Four, 3/15/12

My goodness today was a busy day!  I came in at 8:00 to watch a Trial which was a really cool experience.  Ryan Maloney also dropped by and watched the trial as well.  I got to see how they pick a Jury for jury duty; it takes about two hours also.  The judge and the attorneys ask questions in order to find the best and most impartial jurors.  At first the judge asks the jurors broad questions like something pertaining to the case.  This case was a domestic violence case so the judge asks if any of the jurors have ever known someone or has been a victim of domestic violence.  A vic (shorthand for victim) of domestic violence may be bias toward a Δ that committed such a crime.  By removing a bias juror it creates a less bias jury.  I then watched the prosecutor and defense attorney give their opening statements which are basically a thesis statement of what their goal is.  As Christian put it, a mental contract with the jury, it promises what the attorney will do.  If promises are not kept then the Δ is found not guilty.  I won’t bore you with the rest but to paraphrase four hours, witnesses were called to testify as well as the Δ.  At the end of that each attorney gave closing arguments which were SUPER cool.  The closing statement is the icing on the cake, a final hurrah to convince the jury of their position.  It was great to hear everything that you miss when uneducated on what to pay attention to.  Brian, the prosecutor, gave a fantastic statement! Talk about rhetoric! My humanities teacher Jessica would have been amazed!  Brian definitely convinced me.

Three Days In, 3/14/12

Wow, I’m already three days in to our internships! That’s cool!  To day went great, this morning I went to court with Christian and he met an discussed a case with a Spanish speaker who didn’t speak English.  That was really interesting to watch Christian communicate through an interpreter.  We then walked through a case to a DUI offender and gave her some options whether she wanted to extend the court date, take a plea deal or, go to trial with it.  That was cool because I got to see how Christian communicates with the Defendant.  I also learned that when writing “defendant” in a case file you can shorthand it with a Δ.  An example would be "the Δ would like an extension."  We then figured out what I am going to focus on for my project is going to be.  I will be comparing juveniles convicted of possession (possession is when you are caught with alcohol or a controlled substance) who have gone through Crossroads Rehabilitation Conference, to those who haven’t.  I will be comparing the two groups to see if their has been any improvement in stopping recidivism (the repeating of criminal offences).  If those who have attended the conference have a significant drop in recidivism then we will know that it helps those who go through it.  This will greatly give Janine, who runs the conference, better knowledge if her work is really making and impact.  I read over the brief feedback forms that Janine writes up on those who take the course and they are quite positive that those who go through the conference seem to really want to improve their lives.  It will though be great to see some statistic evidence whether it works or not.  To start that today I had to pull 25 case files on those who had gone through the conference out of the many racks of files.  I would assume there are at least a million case files in that building OR MORE.  I will then pull 25 more files from juveniles who haven’t gone to the conference.  I think this project will be really cool and very beneficial to Janine and others.   

Day Two, 3/13/12

Today was a great and more eventful, well for the most part.  To start off the day I went to the Police Department (PD) and shadowed a detective there, I don’t remember his name, which is a shame, along with Ryan Maloney.  We learned how to lift fingerprints from a smooth surface, that smooth surface just happened to be a cop car.  We then took a DNA swab of the steering wheel; did you know they now have the technology to lift your DNA from wherever you touched an object.  Pretty cool, not for criminals though.  While I was there I saw a friend of mine, Deck Shaline, a policeman who works at the PD.  We then listened to some jail calls from people who had been detained last night.  A jail call is the call a defendant makes who is in custody, from the jail.  Those were rather interesting…               When I got back to the DA’s office I read a case file and then I evaluated the important key points and what I would have used at trail.  Me and Christian then had an interesting conversation on game theory and how that played in on the plea bargains Christian offers.  If you are unfamiliar with game theory check it out, it’s quite interesting.  

3/12/2012, The First Day

Wahoo!!  The first day is here and gone, and it was great!  Today for me was a sort of orientation style day, and was moderately uneventful.  To start off with I am no longer working with Aaryn Richardson because he has taken a job offer in Denver, so congrats to you Aaryn.  I am now Working with Christian Champagne who is the assistant District Attorney and takes felonies.  I met all those who work there including the District Attorney.  One of the most important people in the office is those organizing the files during the discovery phase.  They seem to be the bread and butter of the office, and get every case in order so the attorneys can have everything organized and ready for there trial.  Discovery I leaned is a word used when a case is being collected and evidence is being added and organizes into files.  Christian guided me through what exactly an attorney does, as well as drop a ton of information on me within the first 3 hours.  That information included a lot of terminologies such as what exactly a bond was and how someone can bond out of jail.  I was educated on the inner workings of a case and how that all works, as well as how cases were organized.  The case number is always associated with a degree of crime.  There is a date and a degree of crime, a CR is a felony, M is a misdemeanor, T is traffic.  An example would be 892012CR20098, 2012 being the year, CR being a felony, and the rest is just jibberish and is ignored.  Well not ignored totally but just during filing, and discovery.  Then the file is even organized further in colors, misdemeanors and petty offences in orange and green, felonies in grey, and domestic violence in red.  After lunch me and Christian took a stroll up to the courthouse and sit in on a few court cases which was pretty interesting.  I then read a case file and then Christian and I further discussed my schedule.  It was a great first day and I am stoked for tomorrow.