Assistant Circuit Attorney Jonathan “Buddy” Phipps won his first jury trial this past week in Division 11. It was a case involving a car stop by police where a gun and drugs were allegedly found by police, and the defendant was represented by ‘The Master’ of cop-credibility defense, Robert Taaffe.
The case was set for trial on February 14th, Buddy entered his appearance on February 18th, and jury-tried the case on March 2nd. He had less than two weeks to prepare for his first trial. And, the week before trial, the CAO could not locate the file!
Kudos to Judge Hettenbach for not continuing the case at the request of the state. And kudos to Ricardo Dixon for second-chairing Buddy and providing him invaluable assistance.
I was able to see part of the trial and Buddy put in a solid performance. The court staff told me he did a very fine job for the state.
There is an old saying: litigators are always prepared but never ready, and trial attorneys are always ready but never prepared. Little things like only having two weeks to prepare for your first jury trial and not having a file is what makes trial work fun!