Dump truck. Public pretender.
Ramiro Cisneros knows the disparaging names he's called. Everywhere he turns, people look at him with a question mark in their eye. Even his parents at first wondered why he became a public defender in the criminal courts instead of a prosecutor.
His clients talk among themselves about being "dumped" onto the public defender's caseload. Sometimes in the courthouse, witnesses mistakenly believe that a public defender is not a lawyer but someone of lesser standing. Strangers he meets in social situations sometimes dare to ask him directly: How can he take the side of murderers, gangbangers and other scum?
He has answers, all public defenders do.
He has lofty answers that go right to the Bill of Rights. And he has personal reasons too.
The fact is, his work means something. To those he defends, it can mean almost everything.
This week, earlier in the summer, Cisneros has added to his workload by agreeing to be our guide to ground-level justice at the Los Angeles County felony court in suburban Norwalk.
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Outside Department S this Tuesday, the deputy district attorney needs a cart to carry all the case files for today's felony calendar. The same thing is happening at five other courtrooms in this monolithic seven-story courthouse.
Often in the movies and the news headlines, the clash between right and wrong engages teams of lawyers in furious weeks of courtroom theater. The far greater share of courtroom life, however, is quite the contrary: one lawyer carrying many cases with tightly scripted appearances often measured in minutes.
Right now, Cisneros is responsible for defending 25 people accused of felonies -- the most serious level of crime, those that carry terms in state prison. Today, four of those defendants are to appear before Judge Larry S. Knupp for one reason or another.
In these appearances and brief hearings, many cases are resolved. This is where the plea bargains are offered, where injustices can be weeded out, where parolees are called to account for their lapses, where the lawyers size up their clients and vice versa.
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As court convenes, Cisneros has one case that's a defense attorney's slam-dunk. At least, legally speaking it is. Emotionally, well, it's a different matter.
