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The author of this article is a public defender in the pacific northwest. He sometimes writes for Jesse Singal, but he also has his own substack.[1] Many of his
by ggreer 4y ago
The author of this article is a public defender in the pacific northwest. He sometimes writes for Jesse Singal, but he also has his own substack.[1] Many of his posts provide a unique window into the criminal justice system. If that sounds interesting to you, I strongly recommend reading more of his writing. In my opinion, his greatest hits are Eleven Magic Words[2] and Death of a Client[3].
1. https://ymeskhout.substack.com/ https://ymeskhout.substack.com/
2. https://ymeskhout.substack.com/p/eleven-magic-words-unlocked https://ymeskhout.substack.com/p/eleven-magic-words-unlocked
3. https://ymeskhout.substack.com/p/death-of-a-client https://ymeskhout.substack.com/p/death-of-a-client
- whoooooo123 4y agoOnly upon reading your comment did I realise that the Substack article I just read was not written by Jesse Singal.
- TheFlyingFish 4y agoI regularly read Singal-Minded and it still took me until "I am a lawyer" before I scrolled back up and checked the author name.
- skrebbel 4y agoI just read "Eleven Magic Words" and I'm entirely baffled. Also what a writer, wow.
- SapporoChris 4y ago"It's the functional equivalent of an attorney's XP level", I laughed embarrassingly loud. Thank you and grandparent for recommendations.
- kator 4y agoYes very well written and reminds us all that in the end we're humans, and once in a while things can go right if only for us asking why they aren't.
- lupire 4y agoI don't get it. The lawyer asked "“Is there anything the court would like to review to reconsider?” and the judge said, oh, well "since you have asked if I want to, yeah I guess I do, so I'll just change my ruling for no reason?"
- overthemoon 4y agoI don't think the author gets it, either. I think that's the point. A small miracle happened.
- spbaar 4y agoyes
- jimmaswell 4y ago"I implore you to reconsider" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvu5Ephsqyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvu5Ephsqyk
- ymeskhout 4y agolmao I never saw this before and it's TOO perfect
- skrebbel 4y agoExactly that. I had to read it twice too. The way I read it is there were so many hearings so quickly in a row that the judge was in some sort of blur. Case, bam, verdict. Case, bam, verdict. One every 10 minutes. And in that situation, just from being asked to think it over a few more seconds, she saw that maybe she had it wrong and changed her mind.
- ALittleLight 4y agoMy reading was that the judge had thirty seconds to regard the grieving family and changed her mind and asking her to reconsider gave her an easy opportunity to change the sentence.
- 4y ago
- CamperBob2 4y agoEh, if he were a great writer, I'd understand the point of the story, specifically what was so powerful about the eleven-word incantation. Which I don't. I would like my 3 minutes back, Your Honor. Apparently I'd have to be an attorney to get it, in which case I'd have presumably learned about this obscure legal hack in law school.
- oogali 4y agoYou read all of that in 3 minutes?
- CamperBob2 4y agoAltogether, it took more like seven or eight minutes, but because it was decently-written and had some legitimate educational and entertainment value, I'll settle for a partial refund.
- ymeskhout 4y ago> I'd understand the point of the story, specifically what was so powerful about the eleven-word incantation That's the point, there was nothing remarkable about the eleven words. Goes to show you how arbitrary the system can be.
- Cthulhu_ 4y ago
- recuter 4y agoThe dark lord Cthulhu is rather "problematic" as well and yet here we are giving you the benefit of the doubt.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft#Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft#Race
- opan 4y agoFrom your link: >Singal was supported by sex columnist Dan Savage, who derided what he described as a "long & dishonest campaign" against Singal,[14] and urged readers to listen to Singal's interview of a youth-gender clinician before judging him as transphobic.[6]
- photochemsyn 4y agoI'm afraid that everyone using a computer today is relying on the John von Neumann architeture. To add, von Neumann is problematic and called for premptive nuclear war and the genocidal murder of tens of millions of human beings. I suggest throwing that vile machine in the trash immediately - you don't want to be using something designed by a wannabe mass-murderer, do you?
- Kye 4y agoThere's a way to bring stuff like this up on HN that won't result in...well, you see the replies. Yes he is a bigot, and I know this from reading his own comments (not from hearsay as his defenders like to assume), but even as The Choir I find this comment a bit unhelpful. It's a one-liner and a link. Not even with an anchor to the part of the wiki that addresses this.
- adrusi 4y agoSingal isn't a bigot. It's not the service to trans people that many people seem to think it is to call anyone who documents unflattering dimensions of trans politics a bigot. Colin Wright, mentioned in the article, could more reasonably be called a bigot, though having his Paypal account terminated on that basis wouldn't be just. But this really shouldn't be about Singal or Wright. I, a trans woman, had a fine evening out with the actual author of the piece, Yassine Meskhout, back in April along with a few other folks, and I'm quite sure he isn't bigoted against trans people.
- NaturalPhallacy 4y agoThanks for the recommendation! From Eleven Magic Words Unlocked: >Recall how plea deals are structured, and how the entire purpose of a suspended jail sentence is to dangle the anvil over someone’s head to “encourage” them to do the things they’re supposed to do. I was in a relationship with a police officer for a while, and this is what she said about probation: "Fuck that, send me to fuckin jail." And she reiterated it a couple of different ways to make it perfectly clear she wasn't joking. A lot of people who haven't experienced it think probation is "being let off easy". It's not. You have to show up for check-ins, and excuses aren't tolerated. You have to pay for this punishment out of your own pocket too. And any other things the court applies to you too. And if you fuck up, and fail to show, you go to jail. If your car breaks down on the way, you go to jail. Your pregnant wife gives birth on the way and you reroute to the hospital, you go to jail. It's basically setting you up to go to jail, but rather just having the threat of it hanging over your head. At least in jail it's hard to fuck up and you're not responsible for anything while there. Probation is putting you in charge of your own punishment and making you literally pay for it too. To hear an actual, currently employed police officer say they'd prefer jail to probation is a far weightier than it first seems statement. A police officer, in jail. With inmates who'll probably find out that they're a cop and take out their understandable if not justified frustrations on them. Would rather go to jail than face probation. Remember this the next time someone says "they just got probation", I'll never forget it. It's a very stressful, and expensive anvil they've got over your head, and it might fall on you for things completely out of your control. You're not "free", you're not "out", you're sitting under a very real sword of Damocles.
- ymeskhout 4y agoVery true! I've had many clients opt for jail. The benefit of jail is that it's at least definite. The pervasive uncertainty in probation amplifies the stress factor, especially since sanctions can come out of nowhere and wreck your life.
- ChoGGi 4y agoThank you for your stories on substack, I think I lost an afternoon of crap weather.