I’ve long-known that bursting is happening all over our judicial system because the seams stitching our system together can’t handle what’s being put into it, and the result is everyone pretty much is tired of it. The judges are tired of the lawyers, the lawyers are tired of the cops, the cops hate the judges, and the clients being chewed up in petty and subjective ways that would make Kafka blush leverage whatever victim-box they can check off in order to avoid consequences.
In short, the system is fucked, which leads to a local reporter using an exciting adjective like BURSTING (from the link):
A series of recent vacancies at the Missoula public defender’s office, including at least one termination, burst into open court Thursday as a judge admonished the agency for failing to assign attorneys to criminal defendants.
Montana’s Office of Public Defender represents defendants unable to afford their own legal defense, a role necessitated by the constitutional right to counsel. Leaders at OPD said Thursday that vacancies are normal at an agency known for relatively low pay, high caseloads and frequent employee turnover.
But Missoula District Judge John Larson, along with county prosecutors, suggested the disappearances of four public defenders who routinely appear on felony cases is creating unnecessary delays for defendants, some of whom continue to sit in jail.
For those paying attention to local Marsupial drama, this is the same judge that other prosecutors threw a tantrum over, which resulted in an entire treatment court meant to allegedly help defendants get handed over to Missoula’s notorious bathroom judge, the confused kangaroo who currently thinks the first amendment shouldn’t protect my citizen journalism.
Since this societal breakdown puts a heavy burden on someone being targeted for blowing the whistle on the Homeless Industrial Complex and its collusion with local law enforcement, my attempt to stumble through my first official pro se defense of myself over the most recent charges I’m facing is off to a fun start. Not only did make the overture to conduct a pre-trial interview of my arresting officer, I learned the officer can say NO to this request.
If I get a no to that request, and if the city isn’t inclined to seriously consider my offer to save them time (which means taxpayer money), then I’ll be super excited to get some pro se trial experience when I take my charges to a jury trial and ask the cop under oath what he declined to offer in my request, which I have a legal right to make.
Public Defenders are some of the most over-burdened actors in this justice LARP, so I understand the frustration. I also understand WHY the city is so dedicated to protecting certain illusions from popping–or BURSTING–like fragile balloons.
Because if people REALLY knew what was going on, they would revolt in ways our elected officials are desperately trying to insulate themselves from.
Thanks for reading!