Postponement is usually a good idea when it can be done without it looking like a strategy of itself. Part of legal doctrine in the United States is the understanding that just being under the 'shadow' or the 'spectre' as it were, of legal prosecution can be, a punitive measure unto itself. This comes from the many cases where political activists or other people unpopular with government or those connected to it, have been harrassed by forcing them to answer charges.
It's existence goes back to the beginning of legal processes in Europe and were specifically mentioned in the documents surrounding the American Revolution; if I remember right the Dec. of Independence itself mentions making people travel far and wide, to answer charges brought specifically to harrass, by the government of England, but I could be wrong about that.
In any case, when reviewing a case for sentencing, the longer the case has gone on, the less the penalty is likely to be, unless there's some really aggravating situation like a murder or some intentional harm to someone.
As everybody will recall, the right to a 'speedy trial' is mentioned in United States law. This 'speedy trial' phrase stems from exactly the doctrine that it's a well known and long used method of ruining people's lives, to subject them to long, seeming neverending litigation.
Hopefully your friend is mentally able and willing to do what's necessary to prepare himself for the game playing that can aid him in minimizing the prosecution's joy in fucking with him; it doesn't sound like he is.
The proper tone to take is pretty well known: the adoption of a certain tone of moral resiliency, perhaps penitent but better, just scared of having a perfectly productive life ruined, very carefully couched so that under no circumstances that it can be termed 'confrontational'
This is pretty easy to do, and involves, simply using the catch phrases ''ruin my life!" and ''hounding me'' (not ''harrassing me'' which is an actual defined term that would give the lawyers glee in word-game playing, pouting to the judge that ''harrassment is defined as (blah, blah, blah,) your honor, and the People are just doing their duty" blah blah blah)
and other skillfully wrought displays of disgust, anger, downright disillusionment, etc... It's not necessary the prosecution see the same person every time they go to conference with your friend and his lawyer: indeed the prosecutor is playing a certain amount of poker: and if your friend can show the proper dynamics between being galled he's being prosecuted, and penitent, he will have to ask himself just exactly how much skill your friend might have in inspiring his own lawyer, and riveting a jury, then a judge - while begging pity.
Stable, yes; but not necessarily a robot. A dynamic person who is very able to state a case for sympathy for himself; charming, yet somewhat strong in facing people, looking them in the eye.... but sometimes, able to give off that 'hurt puppy' feel, too - particularly, able to give off that 'shine' or 'gleam' of virtue: the kind of guy who smells like the right cologne, dresses right, has ''that look'' like he's a ''good guy''.. who couldn't do anything but degrade, and come back out worse for wear from prison: perhaps then able to tell his tale of woe and influence others to disregard and disrespect authority- because he did - for years - upright citizen, good taxpayer/family man/civil air patrol & boy scout troop volunteer - but one mistake and society savaged him like rats eating their own young out of sheer, restless animalistic "need somebody to fuck with" boredom.
The skills to do this sort of thing are either taught by a lawyer one consults, or learned early in life. I grew up the son of a police chief, who later on became an I.R.S. enforcement agent, and sat around listening to tales of legal wrangling, and was tutored by exposure to that. A real good place to learn of this sort of thing over time, is reading the histories of mafia figures who get indicted. They are famous for cultivating exactly the right tone of cultural civility so they can't be painted as wanton criminals.
Another element contributing to the beneficial results of postponed cases is the workload requirements placed on prosecutors. While it's true there's no real skin off any particular government lawyer's nose if your friend's case gets postponed, all decent defense lawyers know how to stall a girl or guy off a speedy prosecution: so there's pressure on the prosecutor to close out cases. It's part of their resume whenever they want promotions. They have to get paid every time they go to a conference, go to another hearing, and this wastes the People's money; so they're constantly looking to close out cases, so they can concentrate on prosecuting new ones.
If your friend is skilled and willing, he can help himself and others in the same boat, by making the prosecution pay for the case against him by delay, after interminable delay: an apparent contradiction since the whole purpose of a properly run justice system is ostensibly to provide for speedy prosecutions, but that's the way it actually is.
Yet another factor on one's side in seeking postponements is the increasing chance - and it's very real - that evidence will accidentally be destroyed; misplaced.. that witnesses against your friend will at some point forget exactly what happened; misplace notes... and then, the prosecution coming to the table against your lawyer, will be playing poker: having to come to the table with less than originally perceived as slam dunk tools for putting your friend in a bind - knowing that your friend's lawyer will have had MORE time to prepare, MORE time to get emotionally involved defending his client.
And, yet ANOTHER reason (if one were simply making lists for pros vs. cons & I'm just listing the pros; it's a given the cons are already known or could be discussed by others) to postpone, is to give your friend's lawyer time to look among these previously mentioned factors, for leverage against the prosecutor, one pro working with another. ( "Hey what about my guy here, man? He's been under indictment all this time, he's wasting away. I know you've got that XYZ case to handle, plus you just got another one" ) - just time to talk, talk, wear his opponent the prosecutor down: more times to say to him, ''come on, I know you're not an asshole; we both know this pot thing's going to keep going on, my guy's just an innocent victim in a culture battle that shouldn't even be in the legal system" - more time to simply beg, plead, and guilt-trip the prosecutor into just letting ''a little pot'' go.
If your friend's lawyer goes ahead and agrees to close out the case, the prosecutor can go ahead and put together a package and be done with it; but if time goes on by, goes on by, then invariably, other crimes are going to come up, that are much more in the interest of the prosecutor's BOSS, to get taken care of. Say, a vehicular homicide or serious injury done by an intoxicated driver: or 4 or 5 of them.
These cases by definition will be leverage for your friend's lawyer, because your friends' case will fall to the wayside: these other cases' severity - as well as the sheer numeracy of them - will weigh on that prosecutor's 'to do' list vs ''gotta be messed with when other more important crimes are being ignored" and give your friend's own lawyer a LOT more leverage in just getting your friend something close to a minimum package.
Long story is, the benefits of postponement can be very attractive, if your friend will simply take the long view. It doesn't matter if one's under indictment unless one's running for office or competing in some business where squeaky clean credentials are a necessity. The main thing, is to get off light.
It sounds like your friend with his health problems and all, has perhaps a family, and everybody's undergoing meltdown under the psychological pressure of ''what if.'' Well, what if's can be good, particularly when everything the prosecution does must be done correctly to the letter: evidence brought to court intact, recollections crystal clear and eager to be shared; caseloads being rotated in and out with speed and efficiency by the prosecution.
If: time goes by then the prosecutor will have other, much more serious crimes to face closing out: family members from the several dui serious injury cases, the meth assaults on daughters by sons-in-law, etc will have more nerve grating, bothersome annoyance on the prosecutor's mind and his/her BOSS'S mind
If: the cops misplace their notes over a year's time, and can't find the notebook those were taken on: got torn up in a fight one night, rained on, sheet mistakenly torn out, etc...
If: the evidence get's moved, from place to place: maybe even mis-labeled or destroyed
If: the friend's lawyer has more time to come back, again & again, talking to the prosecutor about ''my poor helpless client'' and the prosecuter gets a chance to see your friend's personal problems and the reality he's not actually a criminopathic habitual lawbreaker (hopefully that's the case)
If: there's more time for the prosecutor to hear about 'potential impending legal med usage'
If: your friend can have more time to hone his sympathy/'Honest John Q. Unfairly HOUNDED Citizen role - remember - the prosecutor looking at your friend today might see an easy mark: but if your friend really learns to milk out that ''strong, honest citizen who just got cross-wise with an unpopular law" routine - THAT'S what he'll have to prosecute come sentencing/trial/deal making time. Your friend should take EVERY AVAILABLE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN TO WALK THE CORRECT WALK because who he is TODAY isn't who the prosecutor will sit across the table and think about asking a judge/12 people to jail: it's who your friend is on T.H.A.T. day he'll be having to convince people to harm...
anyway: all these things can work in your friend's favor, if he'll just let reality tell him the truth: postponed cases almost always get less punishment.
I'm no lawyer but I've sat around several dinner/coffee tables and listened to lawyering going on; and although I'm not in trouble any more I've been through a few scrapes worth of ...close to a decade per pop, in prison. My instincts were to ALWAYS stall: skillfully - and use that time to carefully generate the proper atmosphere around me. If it was a small pot bust, I'd be angry, perplexed, a martyr who was sad to be persecuted and anxious to avoid punishment, but unapologetic. If it was a crime of another nature ( I used to have a habit of hanging around with people who often needed their asses beat) I'd go the penitent, "so sorry this had to happen, never-gonna-do-it again" route, and looking back I'm happy for every single postponement I ever made.
Just talk; but it comes from real experience and a lot of watching the legal system.
Good luck 2 your friend.
It's existence goes back to the beginning of legal processes in Europe and were specifically mentioned in the documents surrounding the American Revolution; if I remember right the Dec. of Independence itself mentions making people travel far and wide, to answer charges brought specifically to harrass, by the government of England, but I could be wrong about that.
In any case, when reviewing a case for sentencing, the longer the case has gone on, the less the penalty is likely to be, unless there's some really aggravating situation like a murder or some intentional harm to someone.
As everybody will recall, the right to a 'speedy trial' is mentioned in United States law. This 'speedy trial' phrase stems from exactly the doctrine that it's a well known and long used method of ruining people's lives, to subject them to long, seeming neverending litigation.
Hopefully your friend is mentally able and willing to do what's necessary to prepare himself for the game playing that can aid him in minimizing the prosecution's joy in fucking with him; it doesn't sound like he is.
The proper tone to take is pretty well known: the adoption of a certain tone of moral resiliency, perhaps penitent but better, just scared of having a perfectly productive life ruined, very carefully couched so that under no circumstances that it can be termed 'confrontational'
This is pretty easy to do, and involves, simply using the catch phrases ''ruin my life!" and ''hounding me'' (not ''harrassing me'' which is an actual defined term that would give the lawyers glee in word-game playing, pouting to the judge that ''harrassment is defined as (blah, blah, blah,) your honor, and the People are just doing their duty" blah blah blah)
and other skillfully wrought displays of disgust, anger, downright disillusionment, etc... It's not necessary the prosecution see the same person every time they go to conference with your friend and his lawyer: indeed the prosecutor is playing a certain amount of poker: and if your friend can show the proper dynamics between being galled he's being prosecuted, and penitent, he will have to ask himself just exactly how much skill your friend might have in inspiring his own lawyer, and riveting a jury, then a judge - while begging pity.
Stable, yes; but not necessarily a robot. A dynamic person who is very able to state a case for sympathy for himself; charming, yet somewhat strong in facing people, looking them in the eye.... but sometimes, able to give off that 'hurt puppy' feel, too - particularly, able to give off that 'shine' or 'gleam' of virtue: the kind of guy who smells like the right cologne, dresses right, has ''that look'' like he's a ''good guy''.. who couldn't do anything but degrade, and come back out worse for wear from prison: perhaps then able to tell his tale of woe and influence others to disregard and disrespect authority- because he did - for years - upright citizen, good taxpayer/family man/civil air patrol & boy scout troop volunteer - but one mistake and society savaged him like rats eating their own young out of sheer, restless animalistic "need somebody to fuck with" boredom.
The skills to do this sort of thing are either taught by a lawyer one consults, or learned early in life. I grew up the son of a police chief, who later on became an I.R.S. enforcement agent, and sat around listening to tales of legal wrangling, and was tutored by exposure to that. A real good place to learn of this sort of thing over time, is reading the histories of mafia figures who get indicted. They are famous for cultivating exactly the right tone of cultural civility so they can't be painted as wanton criminals.
Another element contributing to the beneficial results of postponed cases is the workload requirements placed on prosecutors. While it's true there's no real skin off any particular government lawyer's nose if your friend's case gets postponed, all decent defense lawyers know how to stall a girl or guy off a speedy prosecution: so there's pressure on the prosecutor to close out cases. It's part of their resume whenever they want promotions. They have to get paid every time they go to a conference, go to another hearing, and this wastes the People's money; so they're constantly looking to close out cases, so they can concentrate on prosecuting new ones.
If your friend is skilled and willing, he can help himself and others in the same boat, by making the prosecution pay for the case against him by delay, after interminable delay: an apparent contradiction since the whole purpose of a properly run justice system is ostensibly to provide for speedy prosecutions, but that's the way it actually is.
Yet another factor on one's side in seeking postponements is the increasing chance - and it's very real - that evidence will accidentally be destroyed; misplaced.. that witnesses against your friend will at some point forget exactly what happened; misplace notes... and then, the prosecution coming to the table against your lawyer, will be playing poker: having to come to the table with less than originally perceived as slam dunk tools for putting your friend in a bind - knowing that your friend's lawyer will have had MORE time to prepare, MORE time to get emotionally involved defending his client.
And, yet ANOTHER reason (if one were simply making lists for pros vs. cons & I'm just listing the pros; it's a given the cons are already known or could be discussed by others) to postpone, is to give your friend's lawyer time to look among these previously mentioned factors, for leverage against the prosecutor, one pro working with another. ( "Hey what about my guy here, man? He's been under indictment all this time, he's wasting away. I know you've got that XYZ case to handle, plus you just got another one" ) - just time to talk, talk, wear his opponent the prosecutor down: more times to say to him, ''come on, I know you're not an asshole; we both know this pot thing's going to keep going on, my guy's just an innocent victim in a culture battle that shouldn't even be in the legal system" - more time to simply beg, plead, and guilt-trip the prosecutor into just letting ''a little pot'' go.
If your friend's lawyer goes ahead and agrees to close out the case, the prosecutor can go ahead and put together a package and be done with it; but if time goes on by, goes on by, then invariably, other crimes are going to come up, that are much more in the interest of the prosecutor's BOSS, to get taken care of. Say, a vehicular homicide or serious injury done by an intoxicated driver: or 4 or 5 of them.
These cases by definition will be leverage for your friend's lawyer, because your friends' case will fall to the wayside: these other cases' severity - as well as the sheer numeracy of them - will weigh on that prosecutor's 'to do' list vs ''gotta be messed with when other more important crimes are being ignored" and give your friend's own lawyer a LOT more leverage in just getting your friend something close to a minimum package.
Long story is, the benefits of postponement can be very attractive, if your friend will simply take the long view. It doesn't matter if one's under indictment unless one's running for office or competing in some business where squeaky clean credentials are a necessity. The main thing, is to get off light.
It sounds like your friend with his health problems and all, has perhaps a family, and everybody's undergoing meltdown under the psychological pressure of ''what if.'' Well, what if's can be good, particularly when everything the prosecution does must be done correctly to the letter: evidence brought to court intact, recollections crystal clear and eager to be shared; caseloads being rotated in and out with speed and efficiency by the prosecution.
If: time goes by then the prosecutor will have other, much more serious crimes to face closing out: family members from the several dui serious injury cases, the meth assaults on daughters by sons-in-law, etc will have more nerve grating, bothersome annoyance on the prosecutor's mind and his/her BOSS'S mind
If: the cops misplace their notes over a year's time, and can't find the notebook those were taken on: got torn up in a fight one night, rained on, sheet mistakenly torn out, etc...
If: the evidence get's moved, from place to place: maybe even mis-labeled or destroyed
If: the friend's lawyer has more time to come back, again & again, talking to the prosecutor about ''my poor helpless client'' and the prosecuter gets a chance to see your friend's personal problems and the reality he's not actually a criminopathic habitual lawbreaker (hopefully that's the case)
If: there's more time for the prosecutor to hear about 'potential impending legal med usage'
If: your friend can have more time to hone his sympathy/'Honest John Q. Unfairly HOUNDED Citizen role - remember - the prosecutor looking at your friend today might see an easy mark: but if your friend really learns to milk out that ''strong, honest citizen who just got cross-wise with an unpopular law" routine - THAT'S what he'll have to prosecute come sentencing/trial/deal making time. Your friend should take EVERY AVAILABLE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN TO WALK THE CORRECT WALK because who he is TODAY isn't who the prosecutor will sit across the table and think about asking a judge/12 people to jail: it's who your friend is on T.H.A.T. day he'll be having to convince people to harm...
anyway: all these things can work in your friend's favor, if he'll just let reality tell him the truth: postponed cases almost always get less punishment.
I'm no lawyer but I've sat around several dinner/coffee tables and listened to lawyering going on; and although I'm not in trouble any more I've been through a few scrapes worth of ...close to a decade per pop, in prison. My instincts were to ALWAYS stall: skillfully - and use that time to carefully generate the proper atmosphere around me. If it was a small pot bust, I'd be angry, perplexed, a martyr who was sad to be persecuted and anxious to avoid punishment, but unapologetic. If it was a crime of another nature ( I used to have a habit of hanging around with people who often needed their asses beat) I'd go the penitent, "so sorry this had to happen, never-gonna-do-it again" route, and looking back I'm happy for every single postponement I ever made.
Just talk; but it comes from real experience and a lot of watching the legal system.
Good luck 2 your friend.
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