Methland = USA

Oelwein, Iowa, described in Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding, gets the Manhattan condescension treatment via New York Times book review:

The madness stalking tiny, defenseless Oelwein may eventually come for all of us...

Methamphetamine already has come for "us," Princeton boy. It's in Iowa and it's everywhere, even in places that matter to regular New York Times readers. Reding first picked up the trail in Idaho. From the Los Angeles Times review:

Journalist Nick Reding stumbled into Gooding, Idaho, in 1999, to report a magazine story about ranching... It was there that Reding first encountered crystal methamphetamine, and he didn't just see it in one place. It was everywhere... (A)s the meth epidemic exploded across small-town America... (a) book took root in his mind...

The book is excerpted here and here. Also reviewed in the Seattle Times and the Boston Globe. Remember, as the Washington Post review says:

(B)ig-city ignorance - fueled by the media - toward small-town decay is both dangerous and appalling.

Via Think Outside the Cage and The Real Costs of Prison Weblog

Getting back on the horse again and again

A practicum with Iowa Champion:

Dealing with disappointment 101

One of the hardest things to learn as a defense attorney (or a prosecutor for that matter) is how to deal with a bad outcome in a case. It is not taught in any classroom at law school...

Deal or no deal

From Iowa Champion:

Where's my deal?

(I)f you haven't heard a defendant or someone from their family complain about a plea offer in one of your cases, you can count the days you've practiced law on your fingers... There are certain things about plea bargaining that everyone charged with a crime (or their family) should know:

1) There is no constitutional right to a plea offer...

2) Each person's situation is unique...The State is not required to offer people charged with the same crime the same or similar deals...

3) In general, plea agreements are only between the defendant, their attorney, and the prosecutor; judges are usually not bound to a particular outcome...

4) If you don't like the plea offer, you can go to trial...

"Felony mouth"

From the Iowa Independent:

Law Students' Goal: Teaching Youths a New Kind of Street Smarts

Helping minority adolescents learn more effective ways to deal with law enforcement and criminal justice officials is the subject of an upcoming forum hosted by a group of African-American law students at Drake University.

"We felt a lot of minority people in general, not just youth, don't know how to interact with the police when they get confronted on the street," said Lauren Yates, 23, a second-year law student. "We want to show them how to de-escalate the situation so you don't go to jail for mouthing off to an officer..."

Reminds me of my stints as a guest lecturer for Magic Valley Alternative High School; good times, good times...

Quick-fried to a crackly crunch, or baked to a delicate crunch

Mandatory DV arrest meets extruded cheese doodle, from the Palm Beach Post:

When Snack Foods Attack

An Iowa man was arrested this month for attacking his father with a bag of Cheetos. Patrick Hamman, 22, of Des Moines, threw the loaded snack bag at his father, Michael. The projectile of nuclear-orange kibbles hit the dad in his glasses, cutting the bridge of his nose. When police arrived, they noted: “Michael’s T-shirt was also covered in Cheeto dust...”

Via Total Criminal Defense Blog.

IA: "This is our government, in our name, doing this, which to me is unacceptable"

From KCCI:

Gitmo Federal Attorney Speaks Out - Des Moines Woman Says Defending Prisoners Frustrating

"I was appointed to represent these gentlemen. They didn't even know they had a lawyer for a year because I wasn't allowed to write or visit them," said federal public defender Angela Campbell.

IA: p.d. exonerated

From The Hawkeye, via RadMan:

Public defender found not guilty

A Burlington public defender accused of urinating on the floor of a restaurant was found not guilty this week by a Wapello County judge. James Beres, 51, of Burlington was cleared of public intoxication, drunken driving and public urination charges...

Wapello County Attorney Mark Tremmel argued Beres was intoxicated at about 4 a.m. when he entered the restaurant... Defense attorney Michael Clark... argued Beres was not intoxicated. According to Clark, Beres was acting strangely inside the restaurant due to a medical condition that mirrors some of the signs of intoxication. Clark said Beres was diagnosed as a child with a neurological condition. He took medication to treat it in the past, Clark added.

District Associate Judge Kirk A. Daily of Ottumwa sided with the defense. In his ruling, Daily said a medical examination of Beres indicates he suffers from partial seizure disorder, which can result in impaired behavior...

I take back that thing I said. I was wrong.

Better than me

I posted about this remarkable public defender before.

It's grand to see her back on the trail:

For the first time in a year, Jane Kelly is running on this trail. A very private person, Kelly says she is doing this because she does not want others to be afraid. After the attack, many people quit using the trails.

Easy to say, don't live in fear; p.d. sister Kelly goes out and does it.

"Sittin' on the docket today, watchin' my client go away..."

You might lose your public defender contract if you sing your closing argument:

Singing Public Defender Barred

(District associate judge Mary) Howe alleged that (singing public defender Sally) Machetta talked out loud to herself in the courtroom while cases were in progress. During one court hearing, Howe said, Machetta asked if she could sing "Looking For Love (In All The Wrong Places)." Other court officials said that in a Black Hawk County case, Machetta sang her closing argument. They described her as "an embarrassment" and "marginally competent, at best."

(O)ne defendant asked that Machetta be removed from his case because she was "nuts."

It is unclear whether the ruling was based on the quality of the performance or the choice of material. While singing "Looking For Love (In All the Wrong Places)" is per se unreasonable, "I Fought The Law (And The Law Won)" may have resulted in a lesser sanction, while "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" certainly would have brought a reprimand from the Bar or worse. It remains to be seen whether Marchetta can keep any money that jurors may have placed in her tip jar.

Update: "First they came for the nutty lawyers..." - Machetta speaks out!

"I have never met a client that I didn't find something redeeming about"

Here's a p.d. who's a better person than me. No, not because she's a federal p.d. After what she's been through, if she can still say, "I have never met a client that I didn't find something redeeming about," she's truly amazing:

Five months ago, on a sun-soaked June morning, attorney Jane Kelly was jogging on a bike trail in Cedar Rapids when a stranger attacked her from behind. He dragged her to a creek and split her face open, leaving her semiconscious in a pool of blood, to be found 20 minutes later by passersby.

(F)ar from retreating from her often thankless, underpaid line of work, she's getting ready to return to it.

(T)he Iowa Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Drake Law School recognize someone who shows a commitment to the constitutional right to criminal defense. Kelly was this year's unanimous choice. Accepting the award, Kelly quipped that she can't remember a time when she didn't know how to make meth. And she's spent so much time in jail, she said, she should have enough time served for a couple of simple misdemeanors. "It's challenging, frustrating, infuriating and heartbreaking," she told the gathered lawyers about her work. "It's voyeuristic, but in the end it's real."

Coincidentally, out in San Diego it's alleged that another criminal defense attorney can't remember a time when he didn't know how to make meth, but I don't think he'll be getting any awards.