Sometimes I question my sanity for becoming a criminal defense lawyer. This week has been one of those times because I have spent most of my time trying to free a client from the county jail. When I have a client in jail, my mind is consumed with concern for the client, and concern for myself that I am doing everything possible to free my client. There will always be hard work involved in any kind of lawyering. However, there is a cavernous divide between the significance of worrying about someone's money, versus someone's liberty.
While the definition of liberty varies, the notion is at its essence what defines me as human being, and an American citizen. Americans posses the fundamental right to not be in jail.That's what freedom means to me. There is a difference between the county jail and prison. People in prison have been convicted in a court of law and hopefully been afforded the full opportunity to stand up to their accusers. Most people in jail merely stand accused. They are supposed to be presumed innocent by the court yet they are treated like convicts. Of course dangerous and violent defendants must be locked up until it can be determined they are not a danger to society. But for the citizen accused of a crime where the only possible victim is themselves, (such as people arrested for drug possession where the drugs are for personal use), the deprivation of liberty is an enormous infringement of civil liberties and human rights.
This most recent case has been especially trying for me because my client, was in my opinion, a political prisoner for the four nights she spent in jail. She is a medicinal marijuana user who stands accused of possessing (not selling) an illegal amount of marijuana for personal use. That is the position of the police, not my opinion only.
The New York State Assembly recently passed a bill that would legalize the possession of marijuana for medicinal use. You can read about it here: http://saratogalawyer.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html (the very first post of the Saratoga Lawyer Blog!) The amount of marijuana my client stands accused of possessing would be legal if this bill was passed. It's something to think about if you care about liberty.
