I had just entered private practice after perhaps too-long as a prosecutor. You know, with a typically high and mighty view that everyone is guilty.

Well, my brand new client, previously represented by another attorney who apparently lost his client’s faith, had pleaded guilty under the Rockefeller Drug Laws to a three-to-life sentence for distributing cocaine. She bought cocaine in Manhattan for a winter weekend party at the beach and resold the drugs—at cost, or none—to her friends. She would likely serve two years, but wanted to withdraw her plea and go to trial.