Life as a Public Defender
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. -- When I opened the door to the holding cell I heard a young man say "Kim?" with a question mark in his voice. It took me a second but when I recognized him I had to fight back tears. I wasn't there to see him, I had no idea he was in jail. I was visiting my clients and I had just returned one client to the holding area where the inmates wait for their attorneys.
I immediately pulled, let's call him John, out of the cell and sat him down for a chat. I have known John since I started mentoring his sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters over a decade ago. I consider his family a part of mine. John's a great kid who has grown up with more pain than any person should have to experience. As a toddler his mother was murdered in front of him. I can only assume that he turned to drugs to dull his pain and it was drugs that had him in shackles and cuffs during our random catch-up. As we sat at a table discussing his life and his family, I heard his name announced over the loud speaker.
Next, I notice an attorney I didn't know, walking to the inmate holding cell. I stop the attorney and ask, "Are you here for John?" He says, "Yes." I tell this attorney I am also a Public Defender. I didn't have to ask -- I knew John's attorney would be a fellow PD. I quickly try to explain why I am sitting with his client. I believe I said something like, "I'm a family friend and I just saw him in the holding cell so I pulled him out."
I have no idea what John said to his attorney after I left but a few hours later when his attorney sent an inner-office update about his client he added my name to the email. That's the type of people I work with, people who care, people who listen and people who will go out of their way to include others.
John has done things that are questionable but I love him and he deserves another chance, as do many of my clients. Sending John and others to jail or prison for non-violent drug offenses doesn't make any sense. People like him need help dealing with their past so they can be productive in the future. Drug offenders need treatment, not incarceration.
This chance encounter last winter made me realize that every client is special to someone. What's that saying, you shouldn't judge others until you walk in their shoes? I know the shoes John was given and as bad as it was seeing him behind bars, he made me remember that I need to be the attorney for my clients that I want for John.
John is not just another inmate in the criminal justice system. He is the person who had just changed me for the better.
The high profile trials of Manuel Noriega, Timothy McVeigh, OJ Simpson and George Zimmerman are among the important legal stories Kim Segal covered as a journalist for over two decades. While working as a producer for CNN, she began attending law school at night, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2005.
At 46, she left her television career for a position as a Public Defender in Broward County, Florida.