So, it’s time to get back to work. I am 29 years old, newly married, living in a studio apt. on Oakhurst Drive in Beverly Hills near Santa Monica Blvd. and my father-in-law gave me the choice of a large wedding or a car. Took the car, a neat 1956 Chevy. Wife got a job as a secretary/receptionist. We are set to go.
First assignment “Preliminary Hearings” located in the block-like building, downtown LA, 6th floor.where I was asked to report. There were about 5 to 6 of us assigned and I was the last one, the new green prosecutor. At the time, the whole office consisted of about 56 deputy DA of various ranks, mine was Deputy DA grade One, the lowest ranking, and in 1956 advancement took years before getting to the trial department on the 6th floor. Top grades took a long time. You could not do felony trials at that grade, and could expect to do the small stuff for everyone in the whole Office.My boss was Floree Linn, the only female DA. She was hired and given special consideration due to her father, a retired Deputy DA. ( Times eventually changed, and now one may walk into a courtroom and see a female judge, clerk, bailiff and DA, as well as female elected DAs heading various County DA Offices including LA San Diego, Alameda, Marin and other Counties. But, this was 1956, a while ago)
They did not baby you. Told me I would be in Court the next day putting on preliminary Hearings which required witnesses, evidence and a minimum of proof. As explained earlier, before an accused can be prosecuted on a felony charge, there must be a minimum showing that a crime was committed and the Defendant did it. As an example, a guy is charged with robbery- the DA has to show for a preliminary Hearing- 1st, what is known as the Corpus Delecti which translates to the body of the crime. I would bet if you were not trained in Law School, you would think Corpus Delecti meant “Dead Body” Not so. Robbery is defined as Theft (Larceny) by force or threat of force. So the Corpus of the crime would be evidence someone used force (mugging) or threat of force (got a gun give me your money) Once that is shown: ie, the required force and the taking of money, laptop, whatever, as long as it is property, then connect the accused by some evidence such as eye witness identification, fingerprints, smoking gun or whatever. Every crime has its elements, and to prosecute they have to be shown. Another obvious connector would be a confession or admission but a confession or admission or any statements cannot be at the time I was in the LA DA’s Office without first establishing the Corpus, otherwise a corrupt DA or Police Officer could tag a guy or gal by a false confession. The rule is protective.
Now I just arrived to the office section for Prelims (that is how the hearings were referred as, given a couple of books written by Judge Fricke who put out separate books on Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminal Evidence which were the Bibles for all criminal lawyers, and judges. They contained everything you needed to know. Today there are tomes and volumes and other writings regarding criminal law and procedure, but when I first started as a DA the vast changes in criminal law had not occurred except the exclusionary rule. What is the exclusionary rule you ask? It is evidence cannot be used that was obtained by an unlawful search or seizure. At the time I started, that rule was not even a Constitutional rule but a rule of California Courts based on the Search of a bookie’s house where the cops entered without a warrant or probable cause to believe a crime was being committed and tore the place apart.
Anyway, I was given two or three cases consisting of the charges, police reports and a factual summary. One I remember was a check forgery case. Nothing serious, studied the cases reviewed the law set out in “Fricke” and prepared.
Next day to Court. The Municipal judges were terrors. They would glare at you if you were a newbie and generally make your life as miserable as they can. I remember clearly putting on a case in front of Judge Mark Brandler, who was a former DA claiming he never lost a case. ( I say, any lawyer saying he/she never lost a case either is exaggerating or hasn’t tried any and cherry picked their cases avoiding by plea or disposition or hasn’t tried very many cases.) So I am asking questions with my head buried in the file and I hear objection sustained. Did not hear an objection, so I rephrased my question and got the same response “objection sustained.” I rephrased again and also watched the defense lawyer to see if I was going to face another objection. The defense lawyer’s lips did not move, but Judge Brandler’s did:”objection sustained .”I was smart enough not to challenge the judge, explained I was new, which he already knew, and asked for guidance, which he happily gave, and my lesson was over. Later in my career, after Judge Brandler was elevated to the Superior Court, he sentenced three different defendants to Death that I had prosecuted and he was the presiding judge.
I will discuss those cases and my defense death penalty cases later in this blog, but maybe tomorrow I will blog a discussion on the pros and cons of the Death Penalty having been on both sides of the issue, and this being an election year the strengthening of the Death Penalty to hurry up case resolutions or the alternative of the elimination of the penalty altogether.
Nothing exciting occurred in my short stay in the Preliminary Hearing Department before I was transferred to the East LA Area Office to fill in a vacancy there.
Another good thing about the Prelim Dept. was the chance to learn of the various crimes, make a good record as all the proceedings were recorded and the added chance to go on the County run.
What is the County run you ask? The area Office at Lancaster which included not only the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, but the entire vast area of high desert and the eastern portion of the Tehachapi Mountains did not have a separate Office, so deputies would be asked to go out there at 55 cents per mile which helped one’s income and put on cases including misdemeanor trials. Got to try my first criminal trial out there which I will start in my next blog tomorrow or when I get at it.
That’s enough for now.
BTW, no more Marshall Schulman, but just plain Marshall.
By now, Marshall
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