Growing up here in Marietta, I was not always where I was supposed to be. One night, I was at a gas station near my house with a buddy of mine. I was out past curfew, and there was a woman who had been abducted. They pull up, and she’s in the passenger seat. She looks at us and mouths, “Help me.”
We give the cashier the description, the plate number—everything we saw. But it’s after curfew, and I’m not somewhere I’m supposed to be. So I’m thinking, let me get out of here. We start walking back across the street, and Cobb County pulls up. They detain me and put me in the back of the car.
The only thing the officer really asked me about that situation was, “Did she have a nice rack?” From my perspective, it was really kind of shocking that he would ever ask me that.
Experiences like that show you the truth behind the veil—something I think a lot of the general public doesn’t see. These are people. There are people behind the badge, people behind the bench, people behind the prosecutor’s desk. And with people come flaws. We need someone on the other end to check them.
Being a criminal defense trial attorney, I can understand that there are flaws in my system too. But there has to be someone on the other side to remind them: three days in jail could be the difference between losing their car or their apartment. You don’t show up for your shift, you don’t get paid—and if you don’t get paid, someone’s going to go hungry.
Some of what we can do to help people is, on some level, help them understand: there’s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. The government has accused you of a crime. I can prevent and assist you with dealing with the most serious consequences—prison, probation, restrictions on your liberty—and guide you through it.
This is not the system you thought it was. It’s not.
What I love about working here is the mindset. That’s the number one thing. We don’t do cookie-cutter practice here. People can get into a routine—“this is what a meth case looks like,” “this is what a DUI case looks like.” We don’t do that here. It’s about your case—what your case looks like.
I know that seems kind of like common sense, but when you’ve been doing this for years, you start to think you can read the tea leaves. But if you start doing that, you start selling people up the river. You’ve got to keep the focus on this individual case—and how we’re going to deal with that.
When you find yourself in a position where it’s you or your loved one potentially going to be caged by the government, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men are coming for you and yours—this is the place you can be. With someone who has the experience and the attitude you can get to know.
