In my line of work, I hear quite a few excuses on a daily basis.

“I can’t get a valid license because I can’t pay all 10 of these delinquent tickets.”

“I didn’t know my license was suspended.”

I can’t afford an attorney (even though I haven’t looked or spoken to anyone to determine the cost of a private defense attorney.”

“It wasn’t my car.”

“My client will lose his/her job if he/she enters this plea.”

You get the idea. The last one really irritates me. I deal with a lot of DUIs. Most of my cases are DUIs. If I had a nickel for every time I heard from a defense attorney that their client will lose their job if they enter the plea to the DUI, I’d be able to get a soda out of the machine. A bottle, not just a can, that’s how many nickels I’d have. Those sodas are expensive now, you know. However, all we have at work are Pepsi machines, they got rid off all the Coke machines. Which strikes me as odd, but I do have access to Dr. Pepper, which makes me happy. But I digress…

I recently had a defense attorney request a reduction based on the fact that he defendant was a sports coach at a high school. That irritated me more than most of the “but he’s gonna lose his job,” arguments. I took a very objective view when I reviewed the case, but the defendant looked terrible on video & admitted to having had too much to drink. Now, what’s the best course for this guys student athletes? One, give him the reduction and let this be a lesson that even though you really screw up, if you’re an influential person in the community, you can get away with it. Or two, hey kids, if you screw up and endanger your lives and the lives of the general public, there will be consequences, accept them and learn your lesson. I don’t care if this guy loses his job. If his getting fired teaches one kid that there are consequences to his actions, then it was worth something.

Should I be more concerned about the coach losing his job over a DUI than a single parent with three kids losing her job for the same charge. What about the underage college student that has a parent who went to school with the defense attorney and he’s doing a favor? Should I treat that review any differently? Regardless of whether you think I should, I don’t. People make decisions every day. Good, or bad, they make them. People make mistakes. I’ve made mistakes. Working in the Juvenile justice system, I learned that I could have been arrested several times for things as benign as hoping the fence of the school we lived by to play on the playground equipment on the weekends. I do put myself in the position of the defendants at times. What would I think if I were facing these penalties? Then I remember, I wouldn’t have put myself in that situation to begin with. I’m not saying I’m perfect. Far from it, just that I try to make good decisions, and I usually do.

This brings me to the second request I had to deal with recently that just irritated the hell out of me. I worked out a deal with a defense attorney for a jail sentence. The defendant had months to consider and an attorney to discuss it with. At a court date prior to the holidays, the defendant accepted the offer and decided to take the jail sentence as long as he could enter the plea after the holidays. Fine. That happened a lot in December. Well, his court date was this week, I was expecting a very easy plea and turn in. Apparently that was asking too much. A month had gone by since the defendant decided to accept the agreement.

After that month, the defense attorney came to me asking if the defendant could “do weekends” or reduce the time so he doesn’t lose his job. Ugh. He had a month to make arrangements. One month. Then I get the, “he has kids to support” argument. That pissed me off. Not because I think the kids should suffer by not having their dad around, but because he should have thought about that before he broke the law. It’s just an excuse. I can’t imagine that he is that terribly concerned about his kids if he’s going out with no regard for the law and doing whatever he wants to do.

This is where I put myself in his shoes. On the one hand, losing my job and being away from my son for any period of time would be unbearable. However, every time I look at my little boy, I couldn’t fathom doing anything that would or could jeopardize him. That’s where good decision making comes into play. This isn’t a case of someone shoplifting formula to feed a baby, this is a marijuana case. I have no sympathy for this defendant. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

So, in short, make good decisions. If you don’t, be prepared to accept the consequences and leave the excuses at home. Those of us that the excuses are aimed at influencing aren’t buying it. Grow up.