by Crimethinc. Workers' Collective
Available in 284 free installments
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The whole game is extremely cynical. The state's goal is to do everything they can to put you away for as long as possible, and your job is to beat your charges without betraying anyone else. If you have a co-defendant or co-defendants, you must create and maintain a bond with them that is so powerful that literally nothing can break it. At every step of the way, the state will do everything it can to play you against one another. You have got to hang together or you will hang alone. This should go without saying, but the one thing that you cannot do is to try to save your ass at someone else's expense. If you have already done this then stop reading my fucking essay this minute, and kill yourself Seriously. Surviwmg a Felony Trial If you do have co-defendants, it is good policy to agree that none of you will accept any
542 plea bargains without the approval of the others. If there is an extreme disparity between
the amounts of time that you are looking at, then the person in the deepest should have the final say. Make siire that your lawyer understands that this is your position. Have no illusions about v^^hat having a gunslinger in your comer means. Your lawyer will have absolutely no reservations about acting against the best interests of your co-defendants, your associates, the movement, or anyone else who is not paying him or her. Lawyers work for unscrupulous characters all the time that cut each other's throats on the regular. This is normal procedure in their world. Make it clear that this is unacceptable and your lawyer should respect you on some level for it, unless he or she is just a total scumbag.
As your case progresses, you will discover the maddening truth that your troubles are much, much, much more important to you than they are to your lawyer. You will be urgently trying to glean a vital piece of news about the hearing that is coming up in ten days, and he or she wdll be off in another county all week dickslapping around at the trial of some dude that knocked over a liquor store two years ago. Your lawyer will have a whole host of poor bastards on his or her hands that are each individually every bit as desperate as you are. This, however, is his or her problem, not yours. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and you've got to do everything you can to make sure that your needs are met. If you let them sweep you under the rug, they will sweep you under the rug. This will all be substantially more problematic if you are still locked up. Call, call, call, and visit the office as necessary. Be extiemely courteous and respectfld to the secretaries: they hold the keys to the castle. Learn how the various personalities in the office interact, and how to approach who when in order to get what. Make sure that you don't have a communication breakdown and miss a court date, and get a bench warrant issued for you, and have your bail revoked.
In the name of all that is holy: do not talk to the press about your case, and do not let anyone else do so in your name. Anything you say will come back to haunt you in court. surviving a Felony Trial Believe me. Keep yourself out of trouble until your trial if you are out on bail. 543
while you are awaiting trial, your friends and family and supporters will want to know what they can do to help you. This can be somewhat overwhelming, but you will need all the help that you can get. Some help helps, though, and some help hurts. Make sure that anyone acting on your behalf is accountable to you and to what you believe to be your best interests. Be wary of anyone who is using you in the service of his own agenda, whatever it might be. This may be even harder, but be very, very firm with your family if they flip out and try to get you to cooperate with the authorities because they think that is going to get you out of trouble. It won't. Don't let anybody push you around, even if it is someone who loves you.
Don't go it alone. Close ranks with the people that you trust with your life, and let them help you. Folks can help you raise bail and legal money, find and research and deal with lawyers, do outreach to put the word out about the case if you decide that is to your advantage, find and locate witnesses and evidence and expert witnesses if that is appropriate, turn people out to the courtroom at your trial and other appearances if that is what you want, secure endorsements from reputable community members, deal with the press in some way if necessary, keep you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually together, and about a thousand and one other things. Listen, always, to those that you trust-?-but it is your ass in the hot seat, so you had better be calling the shots. Again, this will all be much harder if you cannot get out on bail. If that is the case then your closest supporters will be even more important to you.
