Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“Why don’t they do in-chambers negotiations anymore?”
Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA
“It’s a little more time consuming, but it seems to me that’s appropriate. There are some case that simply require that amount of attention. I will say, in Solano County, you will sometimes set up a specific hearing where you and the District Attorney and the Judge will meet at… say 4:00pm, or 3:30pm in the afternoon, when the calendar is usually lighter, and it’s just the three of you there. It’s not a list of cases.
Most counties in the greater Bay Area do have room for some dialogue, but some just simply won’t. The Judge will look at a pre-sentence report or review the file beforehand. If it’s a misdemeanor, they do not get a report, it’s going to be a review of the file, and then hear the arguments and then make the decision at the hearing. I would much rather have the dialogue, so at least I can go back and tell my client the District Attorney was asking for this…or I’ve seen cases where the District Attorney asks for a certain type of sentence and I’m advocating for something else. I tell them when a Judge disagrees with the District Attorney and is moving toward our position, it’s just that a defendant knows I am in there pushing and pushing on their behalf. So that the Judge gets the fairest presentation of the facts and will be as sympathetic as possible to who they are.
The thing that best serves my interest in those cases is who my client is. The more genuine, the more earnest my client is. When it’s a client who says, ‘I am just not going to do this anymore’, then they make my job a whole lot easier. Sometimes I don’t have much to say. Maybe it’s an addiction that will be helpful for the Judge to be sympathetic about, but that doesn’t always work because if the person’s an addict, they will continue to be an addict even if they get a better sentence.”
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