This has not been the most pleasant of weeks so far and yes I realize it is just Tuesday.
Monday I was set to have a hearing in Juvenile Court with my client who was almost 9 months pregnant with her eighth child. The other seven kids had been removed and placed about two hours away. My client is a paranoid delusional person who does not think that she has any problems. The hearing was a 9:00 a.m. at 8:30 the husband calls me to tell me that they have just had their eighth child.
I go to court and continue the case and see that Children Services are on their way to get an order to take the kid. I call my client who insists that the court has not authority to do this and will not do anything I suggest. By 1:30 the kid is in the custody of CSB and my client is again telling me how it is illegal to remove a nursing child from its mother.
One of my OVI guys comes in to tell me that the cops have been by his house and taken his license. In Ohio if one tests over a certain level then the driver's license is taken at that time "administratively" by the cops. In this case the guy gave a urine sample and it was sent away. When the cops got the sample they immediately went to his house and took the license, something that they have the legal right to do, but that I've never heard of being done before. It is worse because my guy is on Suboxon and apparently that is what put him over the limit, although he was never told not to drive while using it.
Meet with my accused felon who is probably moderately retarded, but who probably knows what he helped another guy do was wrong, so I try to figure out how to keep him out of jail.
Out to another two pre-trials, of course I go to the wrong court first and so am about 30 minutes late to the second court.
Back to my office where the mother of a client is weeping in the waiting room while being yelled at by a probation officer. Apparently because her son (the client's not the probation officer's) cut off his ankle bracelet and is on the run because the prosecutor was mean to him and (I know learn) possibly because he has traumatic brain injury from being beat up a year ago (no reason to let me know too early in the game, I guess). You have to understand that no body ever runs permanently away from this hick town. I once had a guy who committed a brutal assault and robbery on an older woman who ran all the way to Mexico and was back here in five (yes five) days.
Tuesday, started out with my meeting with the husband of my delusional client who is actually pretty normal from what I can tell (although a little weird religiously) and trying to talk to my client again. Luckily she didn't feel up to coming in to the hearing, so that was good. Talking to her is very strange, she is tangentially talking about the issue at hand but in a kind of parallel conversation. An hour trying to get something set up and then a two and a half hour hearing. It went as well as could be expected, perhaps we were able to get the baby to a neighbor's who would let the mom and dad stay there while this case drags on. The custodians of the other seven kids say that the mother would be allowed to visit the baby once a month if they had her.
Then over to muni court and a change of plea on a 21 year old 5 month pregnant woman who had been driving while well over two times the legal limit and had a wreck Her second OVI, in addition she had gotten out of prison for drugs in May.
Back to the office and a 45 minute phone conversation with a client I'll meet for the first time tomorrow on yet another Children Services case. These first meetings or conversations are very difficult because the client feels like they have to tell you everything about the case from their point of view and in no particular order. It is almost painful, but I haven't figured out a way to avoid it. After the initial interview I have a little background and I can start to figure out where to go from there.
Well, that's been my week so far. Came home to a nice dinner and then watched a Rumpole of the Bailey, a kind of bus mans holiday, I guess.
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