Make a shedule of a person who works in the court room system

Stacy Honowitz, a prosecutor specializing in sex crimes, describes her occupation as "quite daunting to know that you hold someone's liberty in your hands every day". She talks about sleepless nights during trials, and the "huge sense of responsibility" that she has to the public. I really enjoyed reading these excerpts from her article in the Huffington Post because I feel that prosecutors are sometimes not seen as individuals the way that defense attorneys are. As Honowitz put it, "Everyone seems to lump prosecutors together and refer to them as "the government". Prosecutors like Stacy are under a lot of pressure to get it right. A prosecutors biggest fear is wrongfully convicting an innocent person. Their days and nights are filled with pretrial meetings with victims, phone conversations with witnesses, and of course sorting through evidence and building a case. 

A prosecutor's typical day will vary based on case load and complexity of the cases. Some prosecutors may enjoy a typical eight hour work day, while others that are in a period of trial preparation can expect to work longer extended hours to include nights and weekends. Many prosecutors even spend thier free time thinking about their case and brainstorming or strategizing. One district attorney shared a glimpse of a typical day in thier life on vault.com which I will show below. 

9:00 a.m.: Arrive at office, check emails, and get files and paperwork for court.

10:00 a.m.: Arrive at court for multiple issues, including an arraignment for a burglary case and hearings for drug possession cases, a money laundering case, and an attempted murder case. Speak with court clerks while clients arrive and judge hears various issues.

12:15 p.m.: Meet opposing counsel for plea bargain agreement for drug possession case.

1:00 p.m.: Quick lunch at desk while looking over emails and making phone calls. Wait for witness to show up at 2:00.

2:00 p.m.: Witness doesn't show. Work on research for motion on attempted murder case involving Fourth Amendment right of seizure.

3:00 p.m.: Brief interview with police officers on felony assault case.

3:30 p.m.: Witness for 2:00 finally shows up with father and sister. Conduct fact-finding issue on domestic violence case. Witness recants some testimony and father pressures her not to testify against her husband, leaving ADA uncertain as to strength of case.

4:45 p.m.: Contact court clerks regarding hearing status of various cases.

5:10 p.m.: Review documents for money laundering case, and call witnesses and corporate officers for interviews in the next few days.

6:15 p.m.: Head home.

I though that this timeline illustrated the district attorney's day well, and I noticed a few things that surprised me. There was a lot of work crammed into a 9 hour day, and his/her lunch break wasnt much of a break at all. Looking over emails and making phone calls WHILE eating lunch. I also thought that the amount of cases that he/she was juggling was profound. Four cases, all presumably at different stages of the process must be exhausting to manage. And lastly, I admired the prosecutors ability to adapt and stay productive when the witness was a no-show for the 2:00 meeting. After doing my research for this assignment, I definitely have more respect for the men and women who work within the criminal justice court system.