Found Guilty!

On Thursday, I headed back over to the Beadle County Courthouse over in Huron to hear the rest of the jury trial for the rape case.  There was only one more witness that had to take the stand for the Defense Attorney and then it went into closing statements for both the State's Attorney who is trying to find the defendant accused of rape guilty, and then a closing statement from his Defense Attorney. What happens during a jury trial like this, is that the State's Attorney has to prove their case - that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt - whereas the Defense Attorney doesn't necessarily have to prove that the defendant is not guilty, but rather try to "poke holes" in the State's argument to show there isn't enough consistent evidence to convict the defendant of the crime.  I think it would be very hard being a Defense Attorney and representing someone who you believe is probably guilty, but you have to try to provide reasons as to why there isn't enough probable cause and evidence to convict them of the crime.

This is the link to the State's Attorney staff that I was able to meet and hang out with on Wednesday and Thursday:  http://bcsa.us/index.cfm?page=about.  I worked and talked the most with Kimberly Zachrison... But I also talked a great deal with Dan Nelson on Thursday who was the State's Attorney for this particular case and trial.  I was able to watch him make his arguments to the jury, and I really admired the way he spoke and argued the case for the victim of this rapist.  After closing arguments from both sides, the jury went to deliberate and come up with a verdict.  It actually only took them about 30 minutes to come up with a verdict and we were called back into court.  The defendant was found guilty - So he will head back to the County Jail until his sentencing, which probably won't happen for a couple months.

On Friday, I headed back into Gillette Office after the entire week of being in several different counties for court, and there were only two people in the office!  I worked until noon and there was nothing else for me to do so I went home :)

A Court-filled Week!

The beginning of this week has been BY FAR my favorite experiences so far in my internship this summer!  On Monday, I had the privilege of riding to Selby, SD with Tim Bormann, who is that State's Attorney over in Faulk County to attend court with him that day.  He was actually filling in for the State's Attorney in Walworth County who was gone for a couple weeks.  Faulkton is about 40 miles away from Redfield, and Selby is about 80 miles from Faulkton... So, it was a long day of driving & riding for me to say the least, but it was definitely worth the trip :) Although only 120 miles away from Redfield where I reside and usually work everyday, it felt like a whole different world!

Since Selby is out in the middle of no where and it was a relatively small court day with only 5 offenders, the judge appeared over the TV from Aberdeen so he didn't have to make the trip.  I had never heard of this or seen it before so that was a new experience.  I'm not sure if I liked the "feeling" of court without the judge physically present - I think it loses some of it's meaning without all parties there, but that's just my opinion after the first time.  From what I heard, it's pretty common around that area and in the State of South Dakota because judges have to travel to so many different counties. I can definitely see it being beneficial during the winter with bad weather when it's not safe to travel on the roads.  Tim also brought me over to tour the county jail in Selby which was an experience in itself! It was great to see, but I would never want to go back. There is honestly no way to explain it that would do justice - It should be somewhere every young child should have to tour and experience so they know what is coming when the law is broken.

On Tuesday, I went to MORE court right in Spink County which is located right in Redfield where I work.  I try to go to court right in town each time it is held every other week.  There were many interesting cases and hearings that I got to sit through on Tuesday... Some more difficult to hear than others, but also some that lightened the mood like adoption cases!  The picture above is the inside of the Spinky County courthouse that I took above during an intermission period (not sure if I'm supposed to do that...)! 

On Tuesday, I had the chance to sit down with Kimberly who is the Deputy State's Attorney over in Huron, SD.  She was there for court that day and gave me several dates that I could come sit-in on court over there and shadow/work with her.  So on Wednesday, I headed over to Huron to meet up with Kimberly for a jury trial hearing for a rape case.  It wasn't her specific case, but she told me it would be an interesting one for me to see.  This morning they started with a jury selection then got right to the court process. It started with opening statements from the State Attorney and the Defense Attorney and then went right into calling witnesses for questioning and cross-examination.  The first witness for the State was the actual victim of the rape... It was difficult to hear the story and watch, but beneficial to hear what she had to say.  The rest of the afternoon was hearing from witnesses which will continue into tomorrow along with closing statements.  From there it will be up to the jury if the defendant is guilty or not guilty.  I texted my boss tonight and told him I'm going back to Huron tomorrow to hear the rest of the case :) It was too interesting today to just leave right in the middle!

What a Week!

 

The rest of the week, I was bouncing back and forth between all that accounting work for Angela and also a project that Paul had me start!  He gave me this "to-do" list for one of his clients' trust accounts.  His client has two different trust accounts - One of them he created back in 1991 which will divide his land among his daughter and step-daughter.  And he also created another trust account in 2013 which will only be going to his daughter.  In short, it was this big file which he wanted separated out into two different files, along with sub-files to separate trust papers, wills, power of attorneys, funding, etc. From there I had to contact the Assessor's office in Faulk County to obtain an assessment list of real property for this particular client.  This document gave me a list of all the property that the client owns and who the deed holder is (so what Trust it is under).  Paul wanted to make sure that there was no property just under his clients' name - He wants all property in one of the trusts.  I did find a few pieces of real estate that were just under his name so now Paul can get those deeded over to one of the trust accounts.  It was an interesting project and I learned a lot along the way!

It felt like this past week at work was never going to end! I was very excited when Friday afternoon came around to say the least - I even left a little early because I got all my work done :) On Monday I'm heading to Selby, SD with Tim for court. I'm very excited to get out of the office and see a different court room! 

My Head is Spinning!

The first part of this week has felt more like an accounting internship that anything related to justice! Not that I'm complaining because it relates a lot to my business major and I love accounting work, but sitting a staring at statements, fine print, and a computer screen for hours upon hours can make one go nuts and give an incredible headache!!  Sometimes it feels like my head is spinning, just like the image pictured above does (that I found on Google). I have been doing a great deal of work for Angela, who is an accountant in the office, and helping her with one of her clients' accounting work from 2015. What makes this client so difficult is that they don't organize all of their information like statements, check registers, deposit slips, etc. so it ends up being a great deal of sorting that most other clients have all organized and ready to go (like they are supposed to). The work can get very stressful and overwhelming at times, but it helps that I'm a very organized person with a Type A personality that likes to work with numbers! I will have to take a picture tomorrow of my messy desk area and post it later this week... It is a complete cluster!

On Monday, Robin (who is Paul's assistant) had me work on going through all tax forms for a client and look specifically at the Form 1040 (Schedule D), which I have pictured above from Google. This client actually died back in 2012, so I went through all of his tax returns from 2012-Current to track every asset that has been sold to record it's cost basis.  In short, Robin wanted to know the "date of death value" of each of his assets that were sold and organize it in a spreadsheet (pictured below). Just because this client bought the asset at a certain price, does not mean it's value stayed the same... So I went through all his forms and calculated these numbers for her.  I tell you what... If you have never had to file taxes or look through these forms, they are confusing and very hard to understand!  

The beginning of this week has been a lot of numbers and paperwork to sort through! Tomorrow I will continue working on the accounting work for Angela, but I will also start doing some legal work for Paul which I'm excited about! I'm actually planning on going to court with Tim next week on Monday - I'm looking forward to getting out of the office and seeing some action in court :)

Something New Everyday

Much of my day on Thursday consisted of filing away the folders of Paul and Kristen's clients. Although I guess I didn't "learn" much from doing this... There is always this kind of work at any job that no one wants to do. So... The intern gets stuck with those kind of jobs usually :) I'm okay with that though and happy to help out everyone around the office with these kind of jobs so they can stay busy with the work of theirs that is more important. 

Pictured above is what I started doing on Friday.  I used HotDocs, which is an addition to Microsoft Word, to create a probate for a man who had just passed away on June 4th who had a will.  It actually ended up being very simple... Was just a matter of plugging in certain information and the software created the probate in a Word Document that Paul needed.  On Friday I also helped Tim, who is the State's Attorney for Faulk County, with starting the process on a few of his personal injury cases. Since I have already been working on two personal injury cases this summer for Paul, I knew the step-by-step process I had to undergo to get started.  I took care of writing a few letters to his clients and sending those off with paperwork they need to sign before we can start contacting their healthcare providers.  To end the day on Friday, Paul sent Lizzie (the other intern) and I to Tulare (a town right up the road from Redfield) to meet up with one of his clients at his house to get some paperwork. We had fun listening to throwback music in the car ride there and stopped for ice cream at DQ on our way back because it was such a hot day.  Although the days can get long in the office sometimes, there is always something new that happens everyday and makes it fun :)  

In the Court Room: The Connections Keep Coming

Here is another up-close picture of the courthouse that I took before entering into court on Tuesday.  I headed over there right away Tuesday morning with Kristen (one of the lawyers in the office) to sit in on all the hearings.  Kristen had to defend a few people for very minor traffic violations so she didn't have any interesting cases that day.  A majority of the other cases involved alcohol like DUI's, drug offenses, or simple assaults (with domestic abuse sometimes) which were definitely a little more intriguing! 

While in court, I actually had a few flashbacks to when I did my first initial project for my internship. I was told to go through 100+ magistrate reports in the Redfield Press newspapers and create an Excel spreadsheet of every offense and the sentence/conditions they were given for each offense. The lawyers in the office wanted me to do this so they have a trend and record of the sentences for every offense - for when they have to defend their clients with similar offenses.  Anyways... When I was in court on Tuesday, I saw SO much carryover from this simple project and the sentences that the people in court were receiving for their crimes.  There were times where I felt like I could have gotten up on the stand and came up with a reasonable sentence just from doing that simple (but repetitive) project on the first day on my internship a few weeks ago.  

It was so nice getting out of the office for a few hours and seeing the true side of Criminal Justice right in the court room.  It's a lot better than staring at a computer all day trying to sort through a personal injury case like I did on Monday!  I had never been in the court room so that was so cool to see and experience!  I also had the opportunity of personally meeting the Judge and State's Attorney for Spink County.  They both said they were more than willing to take me under their wing for a few days and let me shadow them.  The State's Attorney from the Huron, SD area was also present for court and we had a nice conversation - we actually exchanged contact information and I might go intern/shadow her for a time period this summer!  The connections just keep coming and I love it :)  It's so reassuring and rewarding to continually meet more and more people within the Justice field around this area.  It was all scary at first, but the ice has been broken and I feel like I will have many doors open for me when I return for good after one more semester of school! 

Throwing it Back

Can you hear "This Kiss" by Faith Hill playing in the background? What a throwback! This week  I've been back in a different office working on a desk beside Ellen, who does the book-keeping, payroll, accounting and tax work for the office. I've been doing some accounting work on Quick Books software for one of the lawyer's clients all week. I love that Ellen plays music on the radio - and the modern pop station, too! It makes it a little more lively, fun and energizing.  She is an older lady who has been working there for about 35 years and she is an absolute sweetheart. We have had a lot of fun chatting and working together the past couple days back in her office. She actually decided this past year was going to be her last tax season and is trying to gradually phase out into being more part-time and eventually retirement.

Although it's sad she will be leaving because she has been around for so long, Paul (the lawyer and owner of the firm) and Ellen both told me today that I would have a job here right after I graduate this December if I want one, to basically start taking over her position.  Although this isn't technically a job "specific" to the criminal justice field, it basically incorporates both of my degrees of Justice/Law and Business. Ellen said it would be very beneficial for me to have some tax background for when their busy tax season takes place from January-April each year so I got registered for Federal Tax I this fall semester. It fit in my class schedule great and just required Accounting I and II prerequisites (which I have) - so I think it is all meant to be! Ellen also said she would be more than willing to mentor me and work with me as I would gradually learn her job and move into her position. I'm VERY excited about this opportunity!

The main goal of my internship this summer was not only to gain experience, but more importantly build those relationships and connections with people. They always say it's not always about what you know, but more about WHO you know! I think this is so evident in my case, and many students who do internships - they more than often lead us into jobs after the internship is over. Like I've said before, I will be moving back to Redfield, SD with my boyfriend after my final semester of school this fall - which is an area that I didn't grow up in and one I'm pretty unfamiliar with. I'm glad I put myself out on a leaf and contacted Paul almost a year ago about doing an internship this summer. I think good things will be coming from this experience this summer!