Officer, Keep Your Hands Off the Lawyer

It seems like every week something happens at one of my court appearances that leaves me shaking my head. After doing the work of a criminal defense attorney for a few years now, nothing surprises me. But something happened in court last week that pushed me over the edge of tolerance. And it happened to me personally.

Simply put, I was "struck" from behind by a court officer. From behind, he jabbed me in the back with his fingers. I'm sure he will characterize it as a "poke", but it felt like some kind of Jedi poke that got me right in a spot that caused pain. This happened four days ago and I still feel the spot where he "poked" me. I keep telling myself what I feel is psychosomatic. The truth is, I feel violated and I am angry about it. I didn't spend 100k to become an officer of the court to be physically violated by a cop in a courtroom.

Why did this happen? The officer said I was disrupting the proceedings and that I disrespected the court (I think he meant I disrespected him). He admonished a colleague and I for talking at a very quiet and un-disruptive volume. Putting the situation in context, the court was a local justice court. No hardened criminals here except a couple of guys in cuffs being arraigned. The vast majority of the cases heard in this court are misdemeanors and traffic offenses. It is simply a zoo in this courtroom. There is never enough room for the 100+ defendants. The judge likes it quiet for obvious reasons.

Shortly after being rudely admonished by the officer for talking, I whispered to my friend that it was the "uniform talking" and we chuckled. Seconds later, I felt like I got stung by a bee with a badge. I was pretty outraged by this incident and as much as can't afford to waste time with stupid stuff, I felt compelled to take some kind of action. Did I complain to the clerks? No, that would have been dumb. After all, they are buddies with the officer and I frankly need to maintain good relations with court clerks. Did I complain to the judge? No, that would have been an even worse idea. I could just imagine her eyes rolling in to the back of her head. And even more importantly, I need to maintain good relationships with judges.

So I filed a civilian complaint with the Guilderland Police Department. They took my calls seriously. Maybe a phone call from a defense attorney complaining about police conduct in court was cause for concern. After all, this particular police dept. has had its share of problems in the past few years. I met with a sergeant. He was very polite and nice. He asked me what I wanted to see happen. My response was that a minimum, I wanted this officer to recognize his mistake and learn that he can't do stuff like that. I was assured he would be reprimanded and will be pulled from court assignments.

I realized that my biggest problem with this situation is that this officer should not be allowed to behave in an unlawful and improper manner. If he felt it was ok to do this to me, a lawyer in court, what would he do to a guy on the street? I understand that there is no way this officer's offense against me would ever be prosecuted. Despite the fact that New York Penal Law 240.26 defines 2nd degree harassment as occurring when a person with intent to annoy or alarm someone, physically strikes or otherwise subjects the victim to physical contact. He is guilty of this violation.

This event really sent home one of the bedrock reasons I feel my job is important. Criminal defense lawyers stand up to police misconduct. We have an attitude about government misconduct that fuels our fires. Official misconduct must be sanctioned. Unfortunately, our job is like pushing a boulder up a mountain.

Finally, the most outrageous thing about this event was that the Officer told to me leave and that my cases were being adjourned! Can you believe this? Of course I refused and after a staring contest he backed down. That was after he told the ADA and the clerks to adjourn my cases. For any lawyer reading this, imagine you are in court for a felony arraignment and you are ordered to leave by a security guard. Or maybe the speedy trial clock was running? This obviously would have been an adjournment without consent, time charged to the people. If leaving would have worked in favor of my clients that night, I would have.