But it's a good kind of tired. . .

Sunday - prep.

Monday - trial day, 37 cases, all KNP/CTS except for 2.  State tries to get us to go on (arguably) our weakest case.  Really really tries.  I mean like really really really tries to the point that they accuse us of underhandedly manipulating the trial order to avoid this case.  We start to pick a jury but the panel is struck (on motion of the court, although the prosecutor's final question would have been grounds to strike as well.)

Tuesday - regular calendar day - the usual grind.  We pick on that weak case the state was absolutely gunning for.  ("There's no way they can win this case - it's *soo* good for us.")  We get a jury, and go with myself, the Lioness and Baby Bull.  (The Mayor's on a much deserved vacation with his family.)

And we win.  Jury's out for 25min before returning a Not Guilty.  It was a good "hell yeah" moment. 

Our regular prosecutor was backed up by 3 other state attorneys, while we had 2 other PDs helping us out.  So it was kind of a scrum.  Actually it was a drag out, eye gouging, sand kicking fight - surprise last minute statements, suppression motions, discovery violations, motions in limine, cops getting colorful on the stand, and our usual dozens upon dozens of objections during the state's direct (resulting in a few guts-for-garters stares and one denigrating-the-defense comment at state's close, resulting in the court reserving ruling on a motion for mistrial.)

I think my favorite moment came when the state was making a somewhat incomprehensible argument and started citing different statutes and rules of criminal procedure but got the numbers confused.  I got to stand and in a puzzled voice say something like - "But that's a motion to suppress - surely the state can suppress its own evidence without the need for a motion."  (I forget what the actual statute was - it was something about that absurd though.)  Another precious moment courtesy the state and my tax dollars.  Actually my favorite moment would have been the judge and I exclaiming in near stereo (she's faster than me) "That's non-responsive" as an officer tried to weasel in some just-excluded observation of their own on an unrelated question.

So although it was my kind of fight, I'm now dog tired as the trial adrenaline begins to ebb.  We started picking a jury at 2:30 and finished the trial at 9:30.  Given that we started at 8:30 and got a fifteen minute lunch beak, that's a damn long day in the courtroom.

And tomorrow, as usual, is a trial day.  Up and at 'em.

(BTW - I'm not selectively blogging about only the victories as one e-mailer suggested.  Sometimes we don't go to trial on trial day, for any number of reasons.  We've only had a handful of defeats (knock wood!) and they're all recorded here.  Not all of our victories are though.)