Juvenile Crimes - Chapter 26

Fresh Starts

Coquille, Oregon, early March 1996 continued…

On Monday morning, the week following my DUII trial with Ford, big news hit the office again – Kevin had found a prosecutor job in the Portland Metropolis. He had put in his two weeks’ notice to quit.

Kevin was obviously happy, but the rest of the office was not. Kevin carried a big workload that would instantly be divided up amongst the rest of us. The secretaries and office staff hated the idea of losing him because they all loved him and feared what his replacement would bring to the office. They had had a few real assholes come through as rookie prosecutors, and they already were having attitude issues springing up with the most recent hire, Chloe. Some attorneys just can’t help acting like they are better than non-attorneys, particularly in an office environment.

After thinking it over for a few hours, Peter decided his restructuring of job duties after Kevin was gone.  Our Chief Deputy, Steve Keutzer, retained all the complex felony cases - most murders and the major felony case workload, as he had been. Peter would switch Ted’s role into being the office’s dedicated sex-crimes prosecutor, which was a full-time job plus some, and he would take on lower-level homicide cases. As I had already learned, sex cases are the worst, most emotionally exhausting and mentally demanding type of cases short of an extremely gruesome murder case. Many murder cases are very straightforward, and while sad, they can be clear-cut and relatively “easy” to take to trial and then let go of emotionally after the conviction. Hell, Steve Keutzer was an embodiment of that level of professionalism after trying and winning over a hundred murder cases. He was always chipper and upbeat, despite the horrors he’d seen – and he had been to every crime scene, too. Sex cases, on the other hand, always involved a severely traumatized victim and unsavory details that are hard to “leave at the office,” as I’ve partially explained with my own experience. I was grateful that Peter didn’t ask it of me. Ted was ambitious and eager to take it on, mostly, I believe, because he hadn’t had to deal with sex cases yet. It would enhance his skillset and resume, for sure, just as it had helped Kevin to make his leap into the big leagues of prosecution.

 The “good” news for me was that I would be moving up the seniority ladder. It wasn’t a promotion, but it was made to feel like one in every way except the pay. I was elevated to be the garden-variety felony prosecutor in Circuit Court, meaning mostly possession of controlled substances cases (usually meth or heroin at the time) and a steady flow of “felony drive” cases. Most of those were drivers with revoked licenses from prior DUII convictions, leading them to the State Penitentiary rather than county jail. I also got felony thefts, stolen car cases, burglaries – all non-Measure 11 garden variety felonies came to me. It further meant that I was going to be conducting virtually all of the Grand Jury proceedings – only the biggest felony cases and sex cases would be left to my respective senior attorneys. Every Thursday from then on would be devoted to Grand Jury “secret” hearings, and I would spend the next two with Kevin to learn and pick up where he left off. Until a new hire was found, I would also be split between District Court (misdemeanors) and Circuit Court (felonies) for both arraignments and pleas, plus whatever trials that went forward (i.e., no plea deal reached). And I was expected to train the new hire in D Court.

I was going to be even busier for a while. That meant I had to step it up again. So I did.

There was one other prosecutor who was tied to our office, I’ll call him “Phil,” but he worked at a “field office” with the Southwest Regional Drug Enforcement Unit. This dope chasing outfit housed cops from multiple police agencies from several counties. They did the undercover work and deep drug investigations. He was second in actual seniority to Steve and a very experienced prosecutor. Phil was on permanent assignment specializing in big drug cases. I only got the small fry possession cases. Phil was after the whales – manufacturers and large quantity traffickers. We were both kept quite busy. I didn’t see him very often, but when I did, he always took an interest and came off friendly and helpful. There was some undercurrent of negativity in the office toward him that I didn’t fully understand beyond him being judged as a tight ass because he was a Mormon. I didn’t care – he was a professional and I learned from him. Even better, he had no part or position in my whole dust up with Kevin over the Freddy Nelson case, so we stood on fresh ground with each other.

What all this would bring about was much more contact between me and my senior attorneys, minus Kevin and that conflict. I had another chance. I would be advanced and put to the test again.

I would not fail.

I wouldn’t let myself. To fail would have been the little death that leads to total oblivion.

I was getting used to constantly changing circumstances compounded by intensely stressful life-altering (for someone, if not me) events. I absorbed it all like a mental and emotional sponge. After being brought up from being the rookie Juvy prosecutor to taking over adult misdemeanor court, then to training prosecutors in misdemeanor court while advancing again to felony court…and all the horrible personal pain I had endured on my own, quietly…all within six months on the job…

This was more of my baptism by fire…but my life was moving too fast to spend any time looking back.

I chose to embrace the whirlwind in which I was living. My confidence was rebuilding with each day of doing the right thing and knowing it made a difference. Corny as that may sound, it was absolutely true. Soon, I would start to shine.