They represent opposite sides but a good working relationship may help their cases
SEBRING - What is it that gives defendants pause when they are in the courtroom?
If you ask defense attorneys, it's seeing them and members of the prosecution share a laugh together before court comes to order.
Local defense attorney Justin Gaines said clients see that as proof that attorneys on both sides are in "cahoots together" and they're going to hang the defendants out to dry.
What Gaines thinks these defendants don't understand is that having a good, working relationship with the prosecution can bring cases to a quicker resolution and perhaps reduced sentences.
"Ultimately, those are things that make the wheels of justice move," Gaines said "If you're always adversarial, you'll never get anything resolved."
And what about those defendants' fears?
Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin chalks a lot of it up to the growing number of "jailhouse lawyers" who think their attorneys aren't working for them or are selling them out.
It's a particular issue if the attorney is court-appointed and paid by the state, Houchin said.
"I've never had an attorney come to me and say, 'I can't stand this guy. Let me sail him down the river,'" Houchin said. "It just doesn't happen."
Assistant State Attorney David Ward said that nationwide 97.5 percent of all criminal cases are resolved either through a plea agreement or outright dismissal.
That leaves only 2.5 percent of all cases to ever make it to a jury.
Locally, a little more than 3 percent of cases go to trial, Ward said.
"With all these cases being worked out, state and defense have to talk," he said.
A good working relationship between the two sides is what allows a prosecutor to make an offer "you can't refuse" if the defense can prove their case, according to local defense attorney Bill Fletcher.
The flip side is that a defense attorney can only hope he'll get an offer he can live with if the state can prove its case.
"It's kind of like football players in the NFL," Fletcher said. "They've got their own union and they're going to kill each other on the field, but they're going … to have a beer off the field."
And while the two sides in the halls of justice may not necessarily meet up at a local watering hole for a pint, Fletcher said he does go to lunch with prosecutors on occasion.
"It's just a way (to talk business) because I've normally got a lunch hour, they've got a lunch hour. I'm available, you're available," Fletcher said.
He's even been to the occasional party at one of their houses.
Still, it's obviously not all fun and games.
"You're not doing your job if you don't have disagreements and you don't get after each other, (that) kind of thing," Houchin said. "I think people get over it pretty quickly and then move on."
Another reason it's easy for the two sides to get along is because most have worked as both the defense and the prosecution.
"My current partner, Scott Graul, was a former prosecutor out of Bartow," Gaines said.
Houchin started his legal career as a public defender and said lots of the local defense attorneys were prosecutors in the past.
"So, a lot of us have seen both sides, and you can represent your position without making it personal," he said.
Just recently, Houchin was up against attorney David Carmichael, who was representing defendant Donald Henry in a murder case.
Houchin said Carmichael started with him 15 years ago as a misdemeanor attorney with the state attorney's office.
The Henry case ended Jan. 28 in a resolution that had been discussed for three years. The defendant pleaded to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Fletcher pointed out that the Florida Legislature has given major power to prosecutors and they decide what a person is charged with.
"They're in the driver's seat – not the judge, (but) the prosecutors," he said. "In the state of Florida anyway, you better work with them."
Fletcher went to a recent law seminar and said a poll indicated that counsel who got along the best were criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors.
"We like talking to people," Ward said. "That's why we're trial attorneys, because we enjoy talking with jurors. We can communicate well with victims, witnesses. It's certainly reasonable that we're actually fairly pleasant people, contrary to popular belief."
Fletcher recalled his 25 years in divorce court and how that experience eventually led him to seek work in criminal defense.
"The parties acted like spoiled third-graders, and the lawyers had become worse," Fletcher said. "It got so that the lawyers attacked each other … (and) I couldn't deal with it anymore.
Houchin said in his experience people's emotions run much higher when they're talking about their property, children and marriage rather than someone who's committed a crime and is looking at a possible punishment.
"We don't get paid on a commission or contingency basis or anything such as that," he said. "I get a straight salary to do my best and to do what is right. So, it doesn't get as personal that way."
At the end of the day, Houchin said attorneys on both sides in Highlands County will end up working together every day for decades ensuring that justice continues.
"This is a big-picture situation. This is a long haul. This is a marathon, not a sprint," he said. "And if you're two-faced today, you're not going to be able to do business tomorrow."
Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com
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