Government (233 of 365)

The county government building in Douglas County, Georgia. I make my way there fairly often for court. This particular county was one of the hardest hit by the floods last week in North Georgia.

Glutton for Punishment . . .

So, Juror #17 is not happy. He is not happy at all. Juror #17 is the one who requested to be excused from the Brian Nichols trial just before it was set to begin. He's the one the Judge made a shadow juror, ordered to sit in the audience gallery every day until the end of the trial.

Today, Juror #17 was upset that he hadn't been receiving is court-paid drink during breaks in the trial. I mean, really? He's also upset that his photo has been shown in the media. Evidently, his friends are making fun of him. Wah. So, for now, no more photos as the Judge ordered photographers to avoid taking his picture. There was some additional back and forth between the Judge and Juror #17 which you can read about over at the AJC.

The defense lost in their attempt to question one of the rape prosecutors (Nichols was on trial for rape when he committed these murders) about her drug use while working at the D.A.'s office. Their theory is that because the D.A. is aware of the drug use that she is beholden to him, thus would be willing to testify more favorably for the prosecution. The Judge denied their motion to strike her testimony, and also refused to allow the defense to question her on the drug use.

The jury has already heard testimony dealing with Nichols' attempts to bring items into the jail during the rape trial. I remember hearing about him having shanks in his shoes. However, one of the former deputies who used to guard him said she was constantly preventing him to bring ink pens into the jail. Evidently, he'd stick them into his Bible during the trial and attempt to take them into the jail. They're contraband because they're considered weapons. Inmates are only given rubber pens to use.

Both the former prosecutor and deputy have testified about Nichols demeanor during the rape trial and have said they thought him lucid and completely cold and calculating. The rape case was a retrial, and supposedly the prosecution was presenting a much stronger case the second time around. The theory is that Nichols realized he was probably going to be convicted and sentenced. The former deputy also testified that she believed Nichols tried to create a mistrial by attempted to place himself within the view of a juror when he was shackled. The U.S. Supreme Court case of Deck v. Missouri prevents the use of physical restraints on a defendant unless that use is justified by an essential state interest, such as courtroom security specific to the defendant. Nichols' former defense attorney brought up the possibility during the rape trial, but the juror denied seeing him.

Here's what bothers me. I have a hard time believing Nichols didn't know exactly what he was doing. During the second rape trial he told the prosecutor she was doing a much better job during the second trial. He repeatedly tried to sneak contraband into the jail. He supposedly attempted to obtain a mistrial by having a juror see him in shackles. The way he executed the murders and his escape from downtown seemed extremely well thought out, and certainly not an instantaneous and lucky occurrence.

We know he committed the crimes, and I believe most people in Atlanta do not think there is an actual issue regarding his mental capacity when this happened. I could be wrong, it's happened before. That's why I do look forward to hearing the defense's case.

Back to Basics . . .

When I first started this blog it was intended to basically chronicle two things: bootcamp (which I'm so sad I'm not able to do my old bootcamp anymore) and legal happenings. With that in mind, I'm hoping to pick these two topics back up.

First, I've pretty much decided I'm going to do the ING Georgia Half-Marathon in 2009. All I need to do is sign up and start training. Motivation, please? I really, really enjoyed participating in the race in 2007, and this year as a volunteer just made me sad. So, I plan to just sign up and go, and hope you all will listen to me moan about the sore muscles and feet. Okay? Thanks!

Second, I'm planning to post once or twice a week my thoughts on the Brian Nichols murder trial as it progresses. This is a story that has been going on in Atlanta for three and a half years. If you're unfamiliar at all with this case you can read more on the AJC's website. They have a whole Brian Nichols section which pretty much covers the last month or so.

I can remember sitting in The Flying Biscuit with some law school classmates when this happened. Our morning class was canceled and we decided to go eat breakfast. A classmate of ours called to see where we were and to let us know they were blocking off all the streets downtown. At that point, we just knew there had been a shooting. As the day progressed, we learned a judge, court reporter, sheriff's officer, and federal agent were all dead, another sheriff's officer was critically injured, and the authorities had no idea where Brian Nichols was. In the five years that I've lived in Atlanta, that Friday (and Saturday up until Nichols was arrested) has been the only night I was scared to stay alone in my apartment.

Anyway, today was the first day of the Nichols trial. It's stretched through tons of delays and hundreds of potential jurors. Nichols pled not guilty by reason of insanity and I'm interested to see how the defense is going to argue this to the jury. The big news from today? Prosecutors played the courtroom tape of the shooting during their opening arguments. I imagine that was extremely intense for everyone. The most interesting thing? A male juror requested he be dismissed from the jury for emotional, mental and dental reasons. What did Judge Bodiford do? He removed him from the jury, but ordered him to sit in the courtroom every day during the trial, but he will be unable to participate in deliberations at all. He's pretty much a shadow juror, or as the AJC put it, he's been put in "adult detention."

Honestly, I really was relieved that I didn't get called for jury duty for this case. I doubt that I would've been chosen to serve if I had received a summons, but I would've done it if I had. I would love to sit on a jury, although I would prefer it wasn't one that was expected to last three to four months. But to have told the attorneys and the judge that you were willing to serve and then request to be relieved on the morning of trial? It's unfair to everyone involved, especially the jurors who are sitting on this case.

I suppose this case hits close to home for me because I practice in the courthouse where this took place, as do many of my friends. I have followed an attorney and his client through a metal detector in another Metro Atlanta courthouse, only to have the client be arrested for having a loaded gun in the bag he sent through the x-ray machine. What's worse? I later sat by his attorney at counsel table in my assigned courtroom. Once I was excused from the courtroom by the Judge, I promptly went to the bathroom and vomited. Seriously. My Mom had one of her client's go berserk after a bond hearing. He poured poison down his throat and tasered numerous officers and attorneys as they tried to get him under control. This is something I think about nearly every time I walk into a courthouse for a case and it's scary. Unfortunately, it's something that attorneys have to worry about constantly, and not only with regard to the courtroom.

So, I'll be following the case here as things happen. Not up to the minute by any means, but as my thoughts on the case prompt me.

Firsts . . .

It's been a busy past few days.

On Friday morning, I was officially sworn in as an attorney. It was a short ceremony, but a neat experience. I only have one more thing to do before I can officially practice.

Also, on Friday, I had my bootcamp post-test for this session. I improved! My timed run went from 10:07 to 9:45, and my timed push-ups went from 22 to 40! I was very proud of myself!

Yesterday, I met a friend for lunch. We had Thai and mine was wonderful! We went to "Top Spice" and I had the Putri special with chicken, shrimp and lots of veggies in brown sauce.

Today, I went along for a group run. Big Peach Running Co. sponsors runs throughout the year and this one was a 4.2 mile trail run. It was a bit intimidating being around so many runners who were, without question, faster and in better shape than I. I had a lot of fun though and aside from a couple of steep hill climbs, ran the entire thing. This was the longest distance I've run! I did fall on the final downhill and scrape my knee up a bit. Evidently, I'm a clumsy runner!

This afternoon I'm going to relax for a bit. I missed Grey's Anatomy on Thursday and forgot to Tivo it. So, I'm going to try to catch it on the ABC website. I'm also meeting a friend for lunch late this afternoon.

I start the final bootcamp session for the year tomorrow. My goal tomorrow is to get my time between 9:00 and 9:30!

A Day in the Life . . .

I've been meaning to get this entry posted for a couple of days. I've just been a tad busy. I wanted to tell you all about my wonderful day on Friday!

I was too nervous to sleep on Thursday night, which would've made bootcamp super difficult since I only had about 3 hours sleep. So, I missed camp on Friday. At work, we have flex-schedules. We can come in anytime between 7-9:30, so long as we work 8 hours. I was at the office at 7:00 so I could leave by 3:30. During the morning I was really busy. This was great since it helped to keep my mind off of the bar results. However, after lunch, I couldn't concentrate. All day I'd been working on creating Georgia forms for our system, at this point, I was so stressed out my fingers wouldn't even type the correct keys! I broke down on the phone with my Mom, my Aunt, and my ex-boyfriend. (Don't give me that look! We're still good friends!) Finally, I was able to leave the office!

Unfortunately for me, everybody in the city of Atlanta decided to leave work early, too! It was pouring rain and traffic was a nightmare! As soon as I got in the car I became nauseous. It was horrible. I called my ex because he was always very good at calming me down and we talked until I was about half-way home. (Just a quick side-note . . . but would you believe that I'm normally very good about handling stress?!?!)

As I pulled up, the mailman was just getting out of his truck. I checked my box, just in case, but it was empty. So, I turned to the mailman and told him "You have very important information for me, so I'm just going to wait." He asked me what I was waiting on, searched, and pulled out the envelope! He handed it to me and I honestly wasn't sure if I could open it. I was shaking so bad! I told him "I don't think I can open this!", to which he replied, "K, you know you passed, open that envelope!" I opened it up and read the first few words, which included the phrase "I am delighted . . .", at this point I squealed very loudly and hugged my mailman for dear life! I was crying and shaking, practically just beside myself. As soon as I got into my car I called my Mom, who could barely understand me because I was so emotional! After that, I made lots of phone calls telling the news. It's amazing the amount of relief I felt. It was such an overwhelming rush of emotions! Friday is definitely a day that I will never forget.

A group of my classmates and I had decided the night we finished the bar exam that we would meet at Hand in Hand at 6:00 on Friday. So, I headed there to meet up with them. Although less showed up than actually passed, it was so great to see them! My two study partners (as well as their wives) were there. This wasn't the big bash. It's scheduled for Nov. 18! Three years ago when I started working with my study partners I told them I had a very expensive bottle of tequila that I was saving for a special occasion. We decided to save it for when the three of us passed the bar. So, Nov. 18, I'm opening the bottle of Don Julio Blue Agave tequila that I've had for 8 years! I can't wait!

The rest of the weekend was great too. My Mom and Aunt came down on Saturday. We shopped a little and then had dinner at SoHo Atlanta. They gave us a huge dessert platter since we were celebrating the bar exam and my birthday! On Sunday we had lunch at Goldfish (yummy!) and then a little more shopping.

Yesterday's camp was a great one for me. It was a sprint workout, but I just felt very strong. I know I'm not the fast runner, but I felt strong and pushed myself on all the sprints. Today, was rougher. We did the long run (mine was probably close to 3 miles) and my stupid left arch started cramping about about 3/4 mile in. I was so frustrated and in so much pain. It really slowed me down. However, for the last 1/2 mile I worked to catch up with a couple of runners and I actually passed them strong! I just forced myself to forget about my arch for a little bit and was able to finish strong. My shins and left knee are sore tonight, but I've been icing them. Hopefully, they're better in the morning. Friday is the post-test and I feel fairly confident that I can get my time down to around 9:30 (Famous Last Words!)

In other news, I officially signed up for the ING Atlanta Half-Marathon today. I also worked out my training schedule. I've given myself 12 weeks, starting January 7. However, I'm still going to be running and working out until then. My next bootcamp session, and the final one for this year, starts Monday, Nov. 6 (I signed up for that today too!).

I'm also doing a 5 mile run on Sunday. The running store where I bought my shoes sponsors runs and they're doing one Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to it. Aside from jumping into bootcamp, this is the first time I've done a group run like this.

I think that about catches me up!

Celebratory Post . . .

Just a quick post to announce . . . *ahem* . . . I have passed the Georgia Bar Exam! I found out about 4:00 this afternoon. I should be getting sworn in on Monday morning with my two study partners. I'm over the moon! I'll share the story of opening the letter later since I'm mentally exhausted right now. It will be coming soon. My Mom and Aunt are driving down tomorrow to spend the rest of the weekend with me. We're celebrating my pass and my birthday tomorrow!

Also, a big Happy Birthday to Helen who's been celebrating in England today. It's 11:16 here so technically, it's still your birthday! I hope you've had a wonderful day and that your trip is a lot of fun!

More later!

Exhaustion & Relaxation . . .

I've had the most difficult time figuring out how to start! I think it's exhaustion. My massage Monday was wonderful, the wax was rescheduled for this coming Monday. The exam went fine, I think. I've never been through a rougher two days. The first day, the essays, were surprisingly straight forward. They gave us a constitutional/contracts question, evidence, torts, and Georgia civil procedure. Those were all subjects that I did well in. The second day to me was much worse. I think it's the mental and physical exhaustion. By the last hour of the second 3-hour session I was having a hard time even reading the questions. I feel pretty good, so hopefully that's a good thing. I just know I don't want to have to go through all this again.

Afterwards, several of us met at a classmates loft and started celebrating the fact that we were finished. We ended up walking down to a really cool neighborhood bar called 97 Estoria. I crashed at the loft, came home early this morning and went back to bed.

Today I plan to catch up on my tivo'd shows. Currently, I'm watching the new season of Project Runway. I like Kayne, Robert, Uli and Alison. After Project Runway, I'm starting on Season 3 of Rescue Me. Today is a totally lazy day. Tomorrow I may be going to Six Flags with some friends. After that, I need to clean my apartment. Once that's done, I plan to start reading all the books I've put off for the last 3 months.

No more countdown!!!

A quick update . . .

First, this will probably be my last entry until Thursday, since the exam is Tuesday & Wednesday of next week. I'm feeling more confident. I've got my major outline down to about 20 pages of material, and it's getting smaller everyday! My MBE percentage keeps going up too, I was in the 60% range on Wednesday.

Monday is my relaxation day. I have a bikini wax & massage scheduled, with the wax first of course! This will be my first bikini wax, so I'm a little nervous. But, I don't want to deal with that crap during my 2 weeks at the beach! The massage is simply to relax me pre-exam. We've been told not to study on Monday, just to let our brains rest.

I've had a horrible grass allergy the last couple of days. I finally had to break down and go to the doctor this morning for some allergy medication. My legs were swollen yesterday and I've got tons of little red welts. Thankfully, it's already better --shots work wonders.

Today was the last day of bootcamp for this month. I really would love to do August, but since I'm going to be gone for 2 1/2 weeks, it's pointless to pay for it and miss that much. However, September through November I'm there. The first and last days are PT tests: 1 mile run, stair sprint, 1 minute of push-ups & 1 minute of sit-ups. I improved across the board, which is nice. It's nice to see improvements, especially since I can't tell physically. I'm really proud of my mile time, it went from 13:24 on the first day to 10:15 today -- that's 3 minutes! I never thought I'd be close to running a 10 minute mile!

Countdown to Exam: 3 days! (Have I mentioned the panic attacks, indigestion, shakes? Ah, they're not that bad!)

Dumb & Dumber . . . but not really!

I have finished the last of my review courses, finally. Yesterday was brutal. Not because I did poorly on the questions, just because my brain hurts! My study partners and I decided yesterday that we're all getting dumber. We're forgetting things that we already know! I'm feeling better about the MBE. We took a simulated MBE on Wednesday and my percentage was above the national average. (Talk about a relief!) In Georgia, you have to have a 115 scaled score to have your essays read. My goal is to have at least a 115 raw score (which is what the Georgia examiners actually use to calculate your score). I'm confident that I'll get at least that. I'm at that level now and continued practice until the exam will raise that number. I also have to really focus on the essays. It's been helpful to realize that all my classmates --save our resident genius who's consistently getting a raw score in the 130s -- are at the exact same level, a few are below.

I've also officially turned off my phones with a polite message that I'll have a life again on July 27th, and not to expect a return phone call before that date unless it's an emergency. Hopefully no one's offended, although I doubt anyone will be.

I'm looking forward to catching up on Season 3 of Rescue Me and the new season of Project Runway. I've Tivo'd both and can't wait to watch. I'm sure I'll have a marathon TV session a day or two after the exam. I'm also looking forward to reading all the books I've accumulated over the last few months. I swear, I have roughly two bookshelves full of books I've yet to read! Hopefully, during my two weeks at the beach in August I'll get much of those read.

In interesting legal news, Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph Wilson filed suit against VP Cheney, Lewis Libby, and Karl Rove for allegedly outing her classified CIA status. I've been slowly reading through the complaint during meals. If you're interested, you can find the complaint here: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/iraq/wilsonlibby71306cmp.html .

Countdown to exam: 10 days!

Stress . . .

Explain something please. Why is that when you are super busy or super stressed, your friends and family seem to think you have all the time in the world to a) talk on the phone about nothing, b) actually do fun things like shop, see movies, go out to eat, lay out by the pool, and c) just visit and hang out? What makes it so frustrating for me is that I'm the type of person who hates having people upset at tme, so I don't want to hurt their feelings. What does crack me up is that a couple have said stuff like, "So-and-so was going to call you today (to talk or invite me somewhere) but I told them you were really stressed and didn't have the time." For example, on Sunday the mother of my ex-boyfriend who was in town until today called me 4 times. She didn't call me because she needed something, she called "just to chat." I hated having to tell her that I really couldn't talk because I have to study.

Yesterday, I came home from taking another simulated MBE. I entered my apartment to the phone ringing, had a couple of phone calls about election candidates. While talking to my Mom later, my ex called. I called him back. While I was on the phone with him, the call waiting on my house phone beeped in AND my cell phone started ringing. Of all these calls, only one was exam related and it was my study partner. I've now turned off the ringers on my house phone. I've instructed my study partners, parents and my aunt that if they need me to call my cell, which I will check frequently for messages.

At the same time, I'm very lucky and thankful for my friends and family. My automatic response has turned into this: "I really would love to talk to you, or hang out, but I only have [insert days to exam here] left and I have to work. I'll talk to you after July 27th."

I literally feel like I'm losing my mind! I can't wait until this is over! This rant has made me feel just a tad bit better. Can you imagine how wound up I'd be if I wasn't working out? I shudder at the thought!

Countdown to exam: 12 days.

Not enough time in the day . . .

I haven't been able to update lately because of my studying. That's a good thing though. I'm really starting to feel the stress of all this. I had a "breakdown" last night. I called my Mom in tears! Luckily, she's done this, so she knows exactly the kind of pressure I'm under (she, however, did it while I was a teenager -- so she was under more stress). I just needed to vent to someone last night.

I have a three day review course Wednesday through Friday of this week. Hopefully that goes well. I don't know if I'm going to like being around 300 really stressed out people. I've scheduled a massage for the weekend prior to the exam and one for the day after the exam.

Bootcamp is still going well. People are telling me they can tell a difference in my weight. I can't. I'm so glad I decided to sign up for this. It's given me an outlet for my stress, which I desperately needed.

Some friends of mine are planning on seeing "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" at Atlanta's Shakespeare Tavern either this Saturday or next Saturday. It's supposed to be hysterical -- three actors do all of his works in 90 minutes. I really hope they decide to go this weekend, so I can go too. It will give me a couple hours of normalcy. There's no way I could go next weekend, it's too close to the exam.

The Red Sox/White Sox game yesterday went 19 innings! That's a doubleheader! Can you imagine 6 hours in those uncomfortable stadium seats? Unfortunately, Boston -- who was primed to sweep the White Sox -- couldn't hold out. The All-Star break has arrived which is always fun to watch. Speaking of sports, what's up with the French footballer headbutting the Italian? (I'm not much into World Cup, but saw the story online.) Crazy!

Countdown to the Exam: 14 days! (Sheesh -- it's only 2 weeks away!)

Crash . . .

What a day! The hard-drive on my laptop crashed last night. I spent all day today getting myself back up. Not only did I have to purchase a new hard-drive, but also Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and a new wireless card. Not only am I broke, but I'm exhausted! Reinstalling all of this stuff is so time-consuming. Thankfully, I'm back up and running. The most frustrating losses are the portion of my law school outlines which weren't backed up and my artwork (mostly avatars, wallpapers, and a load of pictures of my favorite celeb).

The 4th was good, I grilled out with some friends. We didn't watch any fireworks since it was raining, but we still had a good time.

Countdown to exam: 20 days!

Critical Point . . .

Tuesday, July 4th, is what I've designated as my critical point for bar prep purposes. It's three weeks before the exam. I took a simulated MBE yesterday and, thankfully, I'm right where I expected to be. I shouldn't have a problem meeting my scaled minimum score. (In Georgia, you have to score a scaled 115 for them to grade the essay portion of your exam.) From now until the exam, all I am doing is MBE questions, practice essays, and performance tests. I have one more 3-day review course which is another simulated MBE.

I've done nothing but study all weekend long, save for tiny message board breaks, meals, and exercise breaks. I miss my friends! I just keep reminding myself that I get to have a life again starting July 27th! I hope to see my friend T next Friday, we're planning a little girls afternoon. I also need to schedule a massage just before the exam and just after the exam. I already know I'm going to be in knots!

Tomorrow starts week 2 of bootcamp, although we have Tuesday off for the holiday. My knees are just now starting to heal and are itching like crazy. Thank goodness for Benedryl! I'm very glad that I signed up for this. I'm sure I'll need the workouts to deal with the stress as it gets closer to the exam.

Countdown to the exam: 23 days!