Blog #5 - Second Week Summary - 12/8-12/11

Thus far in my project, I have had many extremely fascinating and educational experiences that have provided me with more guidance and direction into my essential questions.

I have furthered my initial goal of exploring all aspects of the law through my numerous experiences both inside and outside of the courtroom. Last Friday, 12/5, I was able to participate in a private tour of the Lake County Narcotics Agency, which is a specialized organization separate from the Sheriff’s Office, which is not common among Ohio counties. Essentially, the Lake County Narcotics Agency operates as an independent organization as opposed to being connected to the county sheriff’s office, as is typical in the county. This allows the agency to receive its own separate funding from taxpayer levies, not being attached to another agency, which enables a more effective and streamlined distribution of resources. However, this does not mean that the Narcotics Agency operates solely by itself, as when I talked to Director Hengst, he explained that his team frequently works with the Painesville Police Department, a specialized part of the Highway Patrol, and even the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on occasion. 

Their specialized badge is pictured below:

After Director Hengst gave me the initial rundown on how the Agency Operates and some of their basic functions, along with some video clips of what they do, he gave me a tour of their entire facility while continuing to explain every aspect of the agency to me. Director Hengst also introduced me to all of his team members we saw along the way, which included the mixed martial arts champion of Ohio (pictured below).

During the tour, Director Hengst also outlined the investigation process the agency conducts and the action they are entitled to take to further their inquiry related to a certain case. This specifically allowed me to deepen my understanding of how a case against a suspect is constructed, specifically, the preliminary investigation part of it. Prior to my tour, I had seen prosecutors try certain cases, arguing the facts of the case and disputing aspects of the already conducted investigation. But now, during the tour, I learned about how the entire base and foundation of cases are created through careful, meticulous investigation and observation. 

This expanded my knowledge of the actual process of trying a case, as opposed to simply seeing the final product being presented in front of a court, which has given me a new perspective on the amount of moving parts it takes to create the polished compilation of evidence one sees in court. 

To start my second week, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to observe a hearing for a change of plea. This means that the defendant had in this case originally entered a plea of not guilty but had decided to change that to a plea of guilty. As a result of this decision, the prosecution dropped two of the four original charges from the indictment, meaning that the defendant would serve time guaranteed, but potentially not as much as they would have if they had been found guilty with a plea of not guilty. This is the basis of a plea bargain, which I have seen many instances of so far during my project. One interesting aspect of a plea bargain is that it is simply between the defendant’s attorneys and the prosecutors, without interaction from the judge, meaning that any recommended sentence made as a result of the deal does not have to be followed by the judge. The charges will be dropped as a result of a deal, but any recommended sentence will not be guaranteed to follow. 

After I observed the hearing, I was able to talk to the presiding judge for that case, Judge O’Donnell, about his path to his current position, among other interesting aspects of his job. He explained how he originally thought he was going to be a teacher and/or coach, but decided to pivot while he was in college to a career in law. This was interesting to me, as I had heard similar stories from some of the other law personnel I had conversations with people who originally envisioned themselves having a career in the field of law. 

After my conversation with the judge, I observed one of the more complex cases that comes through probate court: a contested guardianship. Essentially, in these types of cases there are usually multiple parties applying for guardianship over one person, and usually only one of those parties will have their application granted, creating the contested nature of the matter. In this specific case, there were large sums of money involved, which heightened the tensions even more. In the end, contrary to my initial prediction of one side “winning” the case, the two applying parties agreed to appoint a third-party person as guardian of the ward (the person who is receiving a guardian). This surprised me, as I had assumed only the applicants present in court could become the guardian. 

To round out the first day of my second week, I visited the Lake County Probation Office during one of their reporting days and was given a tour of the Lake County Jail as well.

A reporting day is when individuals who are currently on probation must report to their assigned officer for their required check-in. I was able to sit in on a few instances, and I learned a lot about the impact a probation officer can have on a person who is within the probation system. For each of her probationers, the officer whom I was shadowing asks similar questions, checking in on job, housing, and other situations they might be dealing with. In addition to those questions, the officer will usually sign off on any sessions the probationer may have attended in accordance with their sentence. These could be related to alcohol abuse, such as AA, or related to mental health, among other topics. These sessions are common for lower-level crimes where the judge determines that the defendant could benefit from the targeted rehabilitative sessions. 

After my time with the probation department, I was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Lake County Jail, where I was able to visit all parts of the jail where guards go, except for the actual parts where they can come into contact with the prisoners. I was able to observe the onboarding art of the jail, where new inmates are brought in, screened, and then admitted into the prison, as well as view the different floors of the prison from the eagle eye view of the control room on each floor. This tour added to my overall understanding of the legal process, from the initial investigation to a potential conviction and jail sentence. 

For the last few days of this week, I have been and will continue to be watching a murder trial in Judge Ruple’s court. This trial is particularly interesting due to the defense entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which is fairly hard to prove.

This trial has been and will continue to be drawn out, as in addition to the typical witnesses in a murder trial, such as the responding officers to the scene, ballistic experts, and the case investigators, forensic psychologists will need to be brought by both sides to argue over the mental state of the defendant at the time the crime was committed. These experts will come at the end of the trial, after both the state and the defense have already brought their other witnesses, but before closing arguments. This allows for all of the background information to be laid out before the arguments concerning the not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) take place, ensuring that a full view of the situation is seen by the judge. 

A couple of other interesting aspects of this trial are that the defendant requested a bench trial instead of a jury trial. This means that their team believes that their case would be better suited for an audience of a judge instead of a jury, perhaps due to the complex legal nature of the case. Specifically, there has been and will continue to be large amounts of expert testimony in this trial, some of which the average citizen may be confused by or unable to properly apply to the factors of the case.  

Overall, my experience so far has been amazing, and I have learned a lot about the varying fields of the public sector of law, as well as the private sector.