Clearing the Reference of Unknown

Case Study The Valerius Family The following is a hypothetical case study into an everyday legal scenario that you may find yourself in. Lucas picks at his scrambled eggs, hardly even noticing the food he was eating that morning. His sister, Krystal wasn’t anymore present at breakfast either, absorbed as she was in her twitter feed. Logan looked from one end of the table to the other, rolling his eyes at each of his children’s absent-minded states. He couldn’t fathom what was so interesting about a social media site. He was already nearly done with his hearty breakfast and his newspaper was lying on the kitchen counter, ready for him to read on his morning commute to work. Everyone stopped what they were doing when a huge yawn broke the silence of the still morning as Katherine made her grand debut. She’d just woken up, clearly later than everyone else, and yet she looked the most stunning. Her eyes were already bright and shiny, her hair perfectly in place and glowing, and her skin was without blemishes and wrinkles. Her otherwise perfect appearance jarred so comically with the ridiculously huge yawn that accompanied her entrance into the room that Lucas and Logan burst into laughter, while Krystal scoffed. “Mom, if you can roll out of bed with more energy than all three of us combined, then you can find a way to yawn without the neighbors hearing.”, she said. “Oh come on, honey. You know I’m only making fun of the way your brother gets up in the morning. I swear that’s what woke me up in the first place today.” Katherine laughed, while Lucas flushed and Logan chuckled, “You know son, she has a point.”, he said, still smiling. He got up and kissed his wife, handed her a piece of toast and a cup of coffee, before snatching up the newspaper from the kitchen counter. “Alright kids, let’s finish up here. Lucas, it’s your first day as a college junior! Krystal, you have an exam and an audition after school today! I know you’ll both make us proud.” Logan didn’t really know how to end his little parental pep talk, so he finished with the typical ‘make us proud’ plug that every parent uses at some point. Katherine smiled as her husband said all of this while Krystal and Lucas groaned in unison. Lucas After that cringey breakfast, I was quick to get out of the house. I snagged the keys to my car before Krystal could, smirking at her annoyed face as I backed out the driveway. That forced her to have Mom drop her off at school. Good. I’m still pissed at her for eating the last of my Poptarts last week. On the way to my community college, I kept thinking back to the little speech Dad gave us today...I mean, yeah, I’m no dropout but clearly I’m not the favorite either. I couldn’t get in to a ‘legit’ four year university so I know my parents have been harboring some salt for awhile now. I was supposed to be their pride and joy...I guess I still am, though. Just not in the ways they thought or hoped. I always feel so weird whenever that topic comes up, because of Krystal. She’s never had an issue with school and studying. Which is super weird because I swear all I ever see her doing is refreshing her Instagram feed or debating which picture to post to her story. Somehow, she just manages to get it all done, homework, studies and all. For me, I couldn’t care any less. I knew since grade school that I didn’t like education. I hate where I’m going now, but I have to. It’s the first day and I can’t skip class today otherwise I might get dropped. Even our little community college is full of students now; it keeps getting harder to just enroll in the classes you need. I swear, with all these new students, you’d think it’s turning into a 4 year university...or, maybe that means more kids are realizing how stupid this all is and that they might as well save their money. Whatever. Not my problem. “Bro, where you been? You been ghosting your boys?” Shawn was never the brightest one in the group, but this kind of accusation just grinds on my nerves. “What the hell are you talking about man? I been the one trying to set this up for days now bro”. I shot back. “Yeah, clearly Shawn ain’t the brains here. That’d be me.” Trevor smirked as he said that last part, and I couldn’t help smiling either. Trevor and I had been best buddies since the early days of high school and it was good to see that he still had my back now too. “Listen, guys. I just had to go with my family on this lame retreat for the last couple of weeks before school started up again. You guys know I’m still in this.” And it was true. I didn’t want to back out. I wanted to see this through. Trevor, Shawn and I all turned and looked at Phil, who’d been dead quiet this whole time. His gaze was fixed on some random point past all of us. We were in some unused classroom on campus and I assumed he was looking at the clock in the back. When he noticed we were awaiting his response, he finally unfroze and spoke up, almost reluctantly. “I’m down to keep it going. I just need to know you’re in it for real. Can’t have you freaking out or backing out last second, now can we?” he said almost playfully. I took that less like an accusal and more like a request for proof of insurance. “Look, man, I don’t have to be involved. I just thought you wanted my help.” I said just as lightly back. “Course we do!” Trevor chuckled. “Here’s your share” he said, producing a small black bag. It was zipped up and very compact. Totally not ostentatious. Back in my car, I unzipped the little bag and found yet another little bag inside. I couldn’t help but laugh aloud. Leave it to Trevor to be so paranoid that he doubled up. Inside that one was the coke. The passenger seat door suddenly opened and I almost spilled the whole bag all over the car floor. “Haha! You should’ve seen your face!” Clair really must have thought she was being funny. “Damn it, Clair! I almost dropped the whole thing. Ever heard of knocking?” I yelled. “Jeez, calm down. What’s important is that you didn’t drop it. Anyway, it’s been way too long since I’ve seen you. I’m so happy you’re finally back.” She was being serious, and I could tell. Clair and I had been together the whole summer and we’d been dating since I met her at a kickback through Trevor’s girlfriend, Val. Honestly, I think Clair’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever been with, which is why I couldn’t even believe she’d be down to do all the stupid and crazy stuff that my friends and I are into. Like the parties and the drugs. “Alright then. No worries. We’ll save this batch for a rainy day.” I winked, as I said that and she laughed. “I can hardly wait. In the meantime, hurry up. Let’s go to lunch. We can make it before my next class if we leave now.” I got a huge, goofy grin on my face, “Your wish is my command, princess.” “Ugh! Some things never change, huh?” she asked. And just like that, we laughed our way through lunch. “Honey, when are you coming home? Will you make it for dinner?” Mom asked her tone a little irritated. Doubtless she was about to scold Dad for nearly burning something. They’d been doing this thing where they cook dinner together after work, which to me feels like some sort of middle aged couple syndrome. “Yeah Mom, I’ll probably be there. I was just catching up with Clair.” I glanced over at Clair, and she covered her mouth and giggled. Her room was just as spotless and organized as ever. It almost seemed like nothing had changed in there at all since the summer. Except that she’d bought some more new shoes. She seems to want more of those for some reason. “Alright sweety, see you!” Mom’s voice was still a little annoyed so I’m sure I’ll get to hear all about what Dad burnt over dinner. We hung up and I leaned in to kiss Clair one last time before I left. “See you tomorrow babe.” The trip back home was really only supposed to take about ten or fifteen minutes, which was a good thing because I was starving and dinner actually sounded really good–even if Dad had burnt most of it to a crisp. But everything changed so fast. I was headed down a side street, no cars in sight, when a cop car suddenly turned its lights on behind me. Damn! He must’ve been parked by the curb with no lights on ‘cause I hadn’t even noticed he was there. With lights blaring right behind me and with no other cars on the road at this time, there was no mistaking that he was trying to get me to pull over. But what could I do? I couldn’t exactly lose him–I was only like three or four streets away from my house. And, why would he want to pull me over now? I couldn’t have been over the speed limit by anymore than like 5 or 10 mph. Reluctantly, I pulled over. “Son, do you know how fast you were going?” I gritted my teeth. I swear this cop was put here just to mess up my night. “Yes. I was going 50.” “No. You were nearly going 60 on a residential street.” He didn’t even seem to doubt his own words. Which just begs the question, why would he have even asked me then? Judging by his smirk, probably just to toy with me. “I’m going to ask you to step out of your vehicle.” “What?!” I couldn’t believe this type of police brutality was happening right now...And then I realized why he was smirking: his gaze was locked firmly onto the bong and empty beer bottles in the back seat. Damn it all. I guess I have no choice now. “Okay, officer. I’m getting out. Don’t shoot.” I added that last bit totally unironically: I’d seen one too many crazy cop videos. I opened the door and got out of the car. He brushed me aside and immediately started poking around in my car. I couldn’t help but feel so helpless...what if he finds it? But then again, I was probably already in trouble for the bong and the empty beer bottles. The thing is, I hadn’t even done anything! They were just there from earlier today when I got to Clair’s place. He immediately scooped up the bong and turned to look at me, his coy smile almost snarky now. “I didn’t do anything. I’m not on anything!” I said indignantly. How dare this guy play around with me in my own car like this? He didn’t even flinch at my shouting; he just calmly continued his search...until he popped open the glove compartment. “Hey! What gives?” I was stunned. Didn’t he need to ask permission before he went off and opened up different parts of my car like that? “What, kid? Got something to hide?” he asked casually, a little too comfortably for my liking. “No, but you will after I report you for violating my rights!” I wasn’t about to let myself get intimidated by some pushover cop like that. “Rights...what rights? You literally let me into your car and left a bong out. Or will you forget to include that part in your report?” His smirk had reached a new level of ire by this point. I could tell this wasn’t his first rodeo, but he was just flat-out playing a game of cat and mouse at this point...the thing that pissed me off so much was seeing just how much he enjoyed all of this. Like he just preys off of others’ misery.   “What do you mean my son was arrested?!” Mom was furious. So was Dad. Duh. I mean I shouldn’t’ve expected anything less at this point. I hadn’t exactly made it easy for them by getting in heaps of trouble all at once. To be fair though, I still hadn’t exactly done anything too horrible. It’s not like I was driving under the influence of drugs. So there was a bong in the backseat. And maybe some coke in the glove compartment. Whatever. It could’ve been much worse. I guess I can’t expect everyone to see the situation as level-headed as me though. Especially not with my sister there. She was being so extra. She basically just makes it worse with her horribly over dramatic reactions to the news of her brother being arrested on charges of possession. I can’t wait to get back at her somehow, someway. After the cop had retorted back on my smartass response, he’d just proceeded to calmly open the little bag until he saw the powdery, white substance inside. For him that was enough. He arrested and booked me on the spot. Never mind that I tried to explain that it wasn’t mine. Or that I wasn’t aware that it wasn’t there. He just seemed content to assume I was a lying drugie. It was a quiet Tuesday at the office. There really wasn’t too much hustle and bustle going on and for Maya that could only be a good thing. She sat on her chair, spinning slowly around. Being the receptionist, she was the first face clients saw when they walked into the lobby of the law firm. But right now, it was a peaceful moment, with no client in sight. Maya greatly appreciated that moment of reprieve because the last work week was just so chaotic and busy. Down the hall in the room across from the reception area, Ella was working diligently on a case. As case manager, she was basically the second person that the clients would get familiar with. She was simultaneously writing up a demand letter and speaking on the phone with an adjuster regarding another case. Walking down the hall, Kassandra couldn’t help but to smile lightly as she passed Ella’s office. Her workflow was on another level; the way Ella optimized her tasks made Kassandra almost envious of her ability to do so. Kassandra has other problems, though. She was still deep in thought about the meeting she had with her new clients at lunch. Their case was particularly tricky to approach and she was taking some time to figure out what the best way to proceed would be. As a lawyer, Kassandra always felt like it was vital to never lose sight of the fact that her clients and their opponents are all human beings, too. In that sense, the legal profession was entirely a human one to Kassandra. She took it upon herself to treat each interaction she had with her clients as a humanistic expression of problem solving and communication. At least these were the principles by which she approached what it means to be a lawyer. And so far, it was working out pretty darn well for her. Being just a year above thirty, she was one of the youngest lawyers with that much success to her name. “Hey, Kass. Is there anything else I can do besides prepping for the next appointment this afternoon? It’s a bit slow today.” Maya was always eager to help out and do more. Kassandra smiled and said, “Totally! Why don’t you pull up some research on these penal codes?” She produced a small list of some California statutes. “We need to look into these for our new clients’ case. Can you do that for me, Maya?” “Of course! I’ll work on it now.” Maya began to pull the penal codes up online as soon as Kassandra had turned back around to walk to her office. At about the exact same time, Katherine barged right into the office . Kassandra turned around and Maya looked up, both a little startled from the abrupt entrance. Following just behind Katherine was her husband, Logan. Both looked haggard and shaken. “Christ, Katherine! What’s happened? Is everything alright?” Kassandra had never seen Katherine so out of composure; she was a long time client with the firm, often seeking legal counseling and advice with her various business ventures. But to see her like this, distraught and distressed was something entirely new. “We need help. Our son’s been charged with meth possession.” It was Logan who spoke. Katherine was unable to say anything else. Maya’s eyes were moving between Katherine and Logan. She hadn’t ever seen them like this either. She eventually fixated on Katherine. A single tear from each eye was rolling down her face. “Please, come in. We’ll do what we can.” Kassandra’s voice was quiet, yet in the stillness of the room it was almost booming. “Tell me what happened. One more time. All the details.” Kassandra was in her element. She was like a sponge, soaking up all of the tidbits of information from Katherine and Lucas. She knew how important it was in these early moments to record every detail about the case and the events leading up to the arrest of Lucas, because she needed to be ready to catch any inconsistencies or breaches of conduct from the law enforcement. She knew all too well from experience that it would oftentimes be these tiny details that would end up proving extremely crucial later on down the line. “Of course. So…”   As Katherine and Logan began to retell the story of their son’s arrest, Kassandra was listening intently and notating important details frequently. She couldn’t help but shake off this terrible, sinking feeling that she would not be able to help the Valerius’ son. Later that day, she was feeling worse and worse about the situation, as though there were larger and larger gaps that she wasn’t seeing. Kassandra was actually feeling almost overwhelmed by the details when suddenly–“Wait, I thought Lucas said that the bag was his girlfriend’s!” It was Harry who’d spoken. Harry was the creative at the firm, in charge of their marketing and branding. He’d been intrigued by this particular case because he saw how visibly distraught Kassandra was by it; he’d never seen her quite like that before. This had piqued his interest. After Logan and Katherine had left, he couldn’t help but to come sit by Kassandra to see her thought process as she went about putting the missing pieces together in this puzzle of a case. But he might just be on to something that Kassandra hasn’t seen yet. “Yes, that’s what his statement says. What about it?” Kassandra was a little irate from the interruption. “Well, the bag according to the cop had meth. Right? That’s what it says here in the arrest statement–that’s why Lucas was arrested.” Harry was beaming by this point. “Yes...and what?” Kassandra had no patience left. “And that’s just not true. The lab report here clearly shows that the substance was determined to be cocaine. Not meth.” Harry felt so proud of himself for putting that one together. It was a bombshell, that’s for sure. “What...ohh. No, that can’t be….no, wait. It is? It is! Oh my gosh, Harry you’re a genius!” Suddenly Kassandra was elated; Harry was just happy that he could be of help in hard times like these. He didn’t know exactly what it could do, but he did know enough about the situation to realize that Kassandra would know how to use that discrepancy to their advantage. “This is huge, Harry. We can definitely use this to get some momentum in our favor. This looks bad because the cop just assumed the substance was meth and issued the arrest under that excuse. As you pointed out though, the lab results don’t back that line of reasoning. The substance was not meth. The arrest isn’t warranted under the reasons the cop listed.” Kassandra was on a roll. “That’s great! So we can get the case thrown out?” Harry asked. He was so stoked now. Kassandra wasn’t smiling anymore though. That brief spout of happiness had passed by now. “No, Harry. We can’t do that.” She seemed serious. “Why not?” Harry was confused again. “Because if the D.A. finds out about this inconsistency first, she can just amend the charges. Currently, Lucas is potentially facing a California Health and Safety Code 11377 violation charge. Which is basically possession of a controlled substance. But since the police report singles out methamphetamine as the drug, and since the only drug found in Lucas’s car was cocaine, we can potentially work out a plea deal instead.” “What! You lost me, Kass. What do you mean plea deal? I thought we had this one in the bag with that flaw.” Harry was getting angry at the D.A. already, but Kassandra seemed resolved. “Well, we kind of do. They just need to not get the upper hand back. While we have them on this discrepancy, we can use it to build a DEJ or pretrial diversion case for Lucas. That way, within a year, he’s guaranteed to have a clean record as long as he completes the drug counseling classes. And he’ll be free the whole time...it’s our best bet for him. Otherwise, we risk the D.A. wising up to our plan and just amending the charges.” Harry nodded in assent. He knew that Kassandra would have to predict all possibilities and figure out which would be the best road to take based on the hypothetical outcomes. It’s a mentally exhausting game that all lawyers have to constantly play, with ever-shifting rules. Fortunately, Kass is great at that game. Lucas “Alright, so one more time, Lucas honey. Do you understand what we are going to do today at the stand?” Mom was freaking out as usual just before anything major was going to happen. I’d been through this before like four times with the lawyer, but clearly my parents can’t seem to trust that I’ll remember something this important. Which is actually at least a little insulting. “Yes, mom. Yes, dad. I only went over the plan like five times with Kass. We got this. Trust me.” I mumbled back, trying to sound reassuring. Truth be told, I absolutely hate this. I hate being in the courthouse and the thought of going up there freaks me out, despite having the calming presence of Kass by me. Speaking of her, she was standing a little bit to the side, pretending not to see that my parents were still totally smothering me. I wish she would say something more to calm them further. As though she’d read my mind, she walked up to me put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Hey, Lucas. This is no big deal. We got this. Just breathe and relax.” “I’m trying.” I really was. In the courtroom itself, the whole vibe was so weird. I kept picturing a scene like something straight out of a Law and Order rerun, but that just wasn’t how it was at all. The room was much smaller, first off. But more importantly, the people in there seemed so weirdly chilled out. Like, they were all so calm and collected. There wasn’t much drama going on at all. The security was even joking with the county clerk and the court reporter was nonchalantly discussing the good weather with the D.A. It all felt way too out of place in a courtroom for me, but then again I should probably have known that the movies never really depict things true to life. “Stay here. I’m going in.” Kassandra grabbed a file and headed right up to the D.A. I was really trying to keep it together on the inside at this point. This was it. The moment of truth as it were. I kept trying to lean in as much as possible from my seated position by the desk so that I could actually hear as much of their exchange as possible, but to little avail. I was only able to make out small bits and pieces here and there. I probably should just sit back and do myself a favor by relaxing. But it’s so hard not to get antsy in this place. A few minutes later, Kass walked back to where I was sitting. She had just the faintest hint of a smile. “Is it over?” I asked, rather stupidly. Of course it wasn’t over. It’s never over till the judge says it is. “Not yet. But the D.A. agreed to go ahead with the plea deal. The judge is going to give his answer shortly.” Kassandra said all this very matter-of-factly but I could tell she was relieved and happy underneath it all. The judge was looking right at me, I could feel it...this is really it.   “I told you so! We didn’t have to worry!” Kassandra was trying to lighten the situation up a bit. The Valerius family was a bit somber but ultimately relieved. The plea deal went through and Lucas was granted a deferred entry of judgement. All he had to do now was to register and complete a drug counseling course and the charges would be cancelled. “Honestly, Kass, thank you! Thanks a ton!” Lucas was probably the most happy one out of the bunch. After all, he did get off very easy in this situation. Everything worked itself out in the best possible light for him. “It’s nothing. I just did my job, is all.” Kassandra was humble and she knew the value of staying grounded. But still, she did feel okay to smile freely now. “Yes, we can’t thank you enough.” Katherine said fervently. “Yeah, you got my dumb brother out of a hot mess. Thanks for that!” Krystal quipped. “Very amusing, Krystal.” Logan shot his daughter a disapproving look. “It’s fine, Dad. She just can’t get over the fact that I’m the one with the good sense of humor in this family!” Lucas wasn’t about to let her steal his thunder. “Fine, whatever. You got lucky this time. But there shouldn’t have been illegal stuff in your car in the first place, you idiot!” Krystal really was out for his thunder; Lucas hung his head sheepishly. “Speaking of which...where exactly is your girlfriend through all of this, Lucas? You’d think she would be more concerned about you. The nerve of her! To not even show up to support you on this difficult day.” Katherine was angry at Clair. And with good reason; she had never trusted her son’s new girlfriend. She believed Clair was not a good match for Lucas. “She’s just probably busy…” Lucas began to automatically defend his girlfriend but trailed off mid-sentence as the truth of his mother’s words began to sink in. Suddenly he began to ask himself a flood of questions as his doubts poured over: Where was Clair? Why wasn’t she here? How come she disappeared after the night Lucas got pulled over?...Why didn’t she come to court today?