Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / When Everything in on the Line: Scott Rosenblum The Art of Criminal Defense
Transcript
- 0:01What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
- 0:04Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
- 0:07Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
- 0:10nightmares that set yourself free.
- 0:13We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
- 0:15Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
- 0:20These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad.
- 0:23There's some humor, but hopefully you can come away with
- 0:26a nugget of something that'll help you knock down some of the
- 0:28prisons you built up in your own mind.
- 0:40What? Welcome back.
- 0:42I'm your success listeners. This is where you come from.
- 0:44What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality, How
- 0:46you adapt, survive, overcome, set yourself free.
- 0:49I know I sound like a like a broken record, but folks, don't
- 0:52forget to follow, subscribe, share this thing out, like it
- 0:55up. It really helps the show and I
- 0:56appreciate it. So who are we talking to today?
- 1:01Well, I've actually known my guess, Scott Rosenblum for a
- 1:06while. I think I was when I was looking
- 1:09back when he was talking about it, you know, his, his first big
- 1:11case. I kind of think I, I met him
- 1:15like around when I was probably like 16-17 years old and he was
- 1:20out of law school and he was like 262728 years old.
- 1:24So it's been a while, it's been a while because I'm, I'm 58 now.
- 1:28So we've known each other and our kids know each other.
- 1:30So it's, it's a, a long time deal.
- 1:33But so a lot of people who listen to this show know that a
- 1:38lot of people have been just dis impacted. 99.9% of the people on
- 1:42the show are, but not Scott. Scott is a criminal defense
- 1:46attorney. And if you're from around my
- 1:49part, she's the best criminal defense attorney here in the
- 1:52Saint Louis area and and anywhere around here.
- 1:56Scott is the president, principal founding member of the
- 1:59Rosenblum, Schwartz, Fry and Johnson law firm.
- 2:03He's got 42 years, 42 years of being in this business, over 450
- 2:11trial cases, 450 trial. It's a lot in 2016.
- 2:18What'd you say, Scott? Don't remind me.
- 2:23In 2016, Scott was inducted into the International Academy of
- 2:27Trial Attorneys. He's listed in the Saint Louis
- 2:30magazine's best lawyer Zuri and and Kansas Super attorney
- 2:34lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, Woodward White, the the
- 2:38list goes on and on. Here he's also a lecturer from
- 2:41Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Missouri Bar
- 2:44Association Association, so on. And this was what caught my
- 2:49attention. I know he has to love this.
- 2:53He has been compared to Michael Jordan.
- 2:55Scott Rosenblum has been compared to Michael Jordan by
- 2:59one of the best running backs in NFL history who was also a
- 3:02client, Marshall Falk. And Marshall had this to say
- 3:07about Scott. You know, Michael Jordan is the
- 3:09best and he watched him on TV. But when you watch him on the
- 3:13court, man, it's different than being there, sitting there
- 3:16watching it. And it's different when it's
- 3:18your life. He's good.
- 3:20That is from Marshall Fuck. And and you know, Scott has had
- 3:24a career where he's obviously represented a lot of people that
- 3:31they don't have big names. But when you throw Nelly Ezekiel
- 3:34Elliott, the governor of Missouri County Executive, on
- 3:37and on and on, he's he's been around a lot of really big cases
- 3:41and he wins a lot of really big cases and and it's become legend
- 3:45around these parts. And the reason I wanted to have
- 3:48Scott on is that, you know, this so many people get caught in the
- 3:52system and, and Scott has been dedicating his passionate life
- 3:57to talking and defending and figuring out people who get into
- 4:03this system and especially on the federal side.
- 4:05So I can't wait to talk to him about all this.
- 4:08Before we do, I want to recognize our show sponsor, Auto
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- 5:21Doctor not guilty. He was actually Doctor Rifai was
- 5:25a a guest on this show not too long ago.
- 5:27I want to check out that episode.
- 5:30All right, welcome in Scott the Scott Rosenblum.
- 5:34How are you, man? I'm good, I'm good.
- 5:37Thanks for having. Me.
- 5:38Well, it's, it's, it's great having you.
- 5:42I want a lot of people know a little bit all around you.
- 5:45But Scott, I know you're from Saint Louis.
- 5:50Take the listeners back to what life was like for you growing up
- 5:54in Saint Louis as a kid. I mean, basically pretty normal,
- 6:01you know, just a Park 3 Central kid that we would play sports,
- 6:06football, baseball. You know, my parents didn't have
- 6:10a lot of money and by the time I was shifting ready to go to
- 6:12college, whatever money they had, they'd lost it when their
- 6:16business sort of went bad on Washington Ave.
- 6:19So. There was a garbage district bag
- 6:21business, wasn't it? Yeah, the handbag business.
- 6:23Handbag business. And then, you know, like a lot
- 6:27of Saint Louis kids, you sort of matriculate just as to what
- 6:30normal is. And back then, it was at
- 6:33University of Missouri, Columbia.
- 6:35The tuition back then, by the way, when I started, was $3000 a
- 6:41semester. Oh.
- 6:43My God. $3000 and I bartended my way through through college and
- 6:50able to pay for it and pay for my way.
- 6:52But yeah, it's amazing. I don't, I think it's like 16 or
- 6:5417,000 a semester now. Oh yeah, yeah.
- 6:57I mean, it's, it's a totally different world.
- 6:59That 3000, that was like $25 a credit hour.
- 7:03So. Did I say that was no $300 a
- 7:06semester? Yeah, $300 a semester. $300 a
- 7:10semester. Man, that's just, that's almost
- 7:13hard to believe because it's everything's just gotten so far
- 7:16out of control with all the education costs on everything.
- 7:20So when you were going through, I know you're you've always been
- 7:24a competitive guy. I know you're a superstitious
- 7:26guy, but in fact I read and I don't know if you still do this.
- 7:32Is it still true that when you go to trial that you will eat
- 7:35the same thing every day for lunch?
- 7:38I never sent I just tried a murder case in Jefferson County
- 7:41about 3 weeks ago. A cold case and because when I
- 7:47sent some scouts, I couldn't really find a good Turkey
- 7:51sandwich. So I had to make sure that I
- 7:53brought my own Turkey sandwich. It has to be exactly the same
- 7:56way. Mustard on both sides, no
- 7:57cheese. It's horrible.
- 7:59But I've been eating the same thing for 43 years and and
- 8:04that's just the way I do things. I've always done that.
- 8:06I don't, I'll never wear red on my chest.
- 8:09I'll never wear red tie. If I lose the clothes, the tie
- 8:13that I wore, closing argument, I have to sacrifice it.
- 8:15I cut it off, even if it's expensive.
- 8:18Sometimes I try not to wear the ties on closing argument day.
- 8:22What else? I've been burning a Catholic
- 8:26votive candle in my house. Not 43 years I've been wearing.
- 8:31I've been carrying the same pen case for for every trial.
- 8:34Those 450 trials, the pen case has been there.
- 8:37Everyone else, in fact, I don't know, about 2-3 years ago, I
- 8:41went over to try a case in the county and I set up.
- 8:45I set my stuff up, but I didn't have my pen case.
- 8:47And I walked up to the I said we can't start.
- 8:51I said I don't have my pen case. He looked at me like I was nuts.
- 8:54I said, but you know, that's just the way it is.
- 8:56I had to get my pen case. So yeah, I have superstitious.
- 8:59No, I and I get that. I mean, I, you know, a lot of a
- 9:01lot of athletes have that, you know, they won't they won't do a
- 9:04they wear the same size, all the different things that go on with
- 9:07that. But I think it's interesting to
- 9:09Scott on you didn't come from a family that was, you know, like
- 9:17you said, they weren't wealthy, they weren't in the legal
- 9:18profession. They were they were making
- 9:21handbag garments. What got you into thinking
- 9:26attorney? Well, I had two people.
- 9:30My my father's first cousin, Stanley Rosenbloom, was a well
- 9:35known, sort of, sort of a genius guy, but did a lot of criminal
- 9:39attacks. He actually represented Jimmy
- 9:41Hoffa in in Washington. And then my uncle Howard Whitner
- 9:46had a practice here. And I started out taking a job
- 9:50in the LADAS office, started there and then just decided to
- 9:56come home and started working for Howard.
- 9:59And my first job sort, sort to lack a better word, was to try
- 10:05case without a bankruptcy court. And I had no idea the bankruptcy
- 10:09court actually had jury trials. They do.
- 10:12I mean, like, for instance, if you owe the estate money, the
- 10:15trustee can appoint a lawyer to go out and do your personal
- 10:18injury case. So I started trying cases there,
- 10:21and I liked it. And then because I grew up on
- 10:24the mean streets of Creve Coeur and Parkway Central, I started
- 10:28getting former friends from high school.
- 10:30That guy got in trouble representing them and the rest
- 10:34was history. Well, I know that and I know
- 10:38that you kind of got a, a feel for it when you were in law
- 10:40school and you just thought, man, I kind of like this whole
- 10:42thing, these mock trials with the courtroom and the and the
- 10:47jury. But I do know there, there was
- 10:49one case that happened and you were a young man, 1987 John
- 10:55White, accused of killing a Jennings police officer.
- 11:01And it was a big case and he he was found not guilty, correct.
- 11:07And Scott, I'm just wondering like, first of all, I mean,
- 11:11you've got, how old would you been in 1987?
- 11:15I was 1987. I would have been. 30 OK, 30
- 11:22years old. And I had, at that time, I had
- 11:26tried maybe one other murder case on assignment.
- 11:31It was a public defender case that could appoint private
- 11:33lawyers. To this day I have no idea why
- 11:35this family walked in and hired me.
- 11:37No idea. And they walked in.
- 11:39That's what I was going to ask you is how you got that case.
- 11:41So you don't even know. I mean, it started out as a
- 11:43death penalty case. I never had a death penalty
- 11:45case. I remember walking in at the
- 11:49courthouse that day for its first appearance.
- 11:53And you can sort of hear all the whispers behind you, like, sort
- 11:56of like, what the hell is this guy?
- 11:57Who does he think he is? Right.
- 11:58I mean, that was a significant case.
- 12:02And, you know, we tried it. There was videotaped confession,
- 12:08audio tape confession, a written confession.
- 12:12We were able to establish at one point that the Jennings police
- 12:16officers were basically stopping every African American that
- 12:21would come through the state, come through the city, bring him
- 12:24in the department, rough him up, get him to make a confession,
- 12:27then play the tape. You confess.
- 12:29So now what? Now, you might as well tell us.
- 12:32And we got, I know that they didn't.
- 12:36I don't think they ever meant to send it to us.
- 12:37I mean, the prosecutor was a very up and up guy, Bill Miners,
- 12:41great guy. But we got a bag of discovery
- 12:44that contained all the flip sides of these tapes.
- 12:47And all of a sudden we're listening to all these horrific
- 12:50interrogations. So yeah, that's what happened.
- 12:53And he was found not guilty and I get hired by the son of a
- 12:57highest ranking black police officers at the time.
- 13:00It was accused of death penalty case who was accused of killing
- 13:02him, white Saint Louis County officer Dennis Blackman.
- 13:08After that, all the phone calls I ever got were criminal.
- 13:12It's really something because, you know, I, I wonder like with,
- 13:16with that kind of a case and, and knowing, you know, this is
- 13:21this is a big case. I'm a young guy.
- 13:24This guy's put, you know, his life in my hands.
- 13:26Were you thinking while this case was going on?
- 13:29Did you think that, Hey man, I, I think I've got a good groove
- 13:32here. I'm doing good.
- 13:33I we've got a shot at this. I mean, did you start feeling
- 13:36like? Oh yeah, you always feel that.
- 13:39Way always feel that way. And most of the time it bears
- 13:41out. Sometimes you feel that way and
- 13:43the jury returns averted to get you.
- 13:45So wait a second. What did I do this?
- 13:47How bad? Now unfortunately I don't have
- 13:49to go out, so those aren't fine. Well, I mean, things change, but
- 13:54I mean, things change for somebody in that world.
- 13:56I mean, it's it is kind of like sports, You know, you win a big
- 14:00game, you're kind of an underdog and nobody knows who you are.
- 14:03And then, you know, it gets a lot of press.
- 14:07I'm sure you thought it had to been going through your mind,
- 14:10Hey, this was a big deal. I'm going to get recognized for
- 14:13this and my life could change from everything I wanted to do.
- 14:19This is my passion. I think it happened more
- 14:21gradually, but yeah, obviously, I mean, you know, the next day
- 14:25when all of a sudden your phone's ringing off the hook and
- 14:27that's never happened. That hadn't happened to me
- 14:29before. Yeah, I recognize it sort of
- 14:32gradually, but I never really focused on that.
- 14:36I mean, I truly just love trying cases.
- 14:38And that's how I, you know, when I talked to young lawyers, I
- 14:41said find your cash. I've never been into
- 14:43advertising. Now I was fortunate because back
- 14:46when I started trying cases, especially murder cases, there
- 14:49was 2 newspapers, the Globe and the Post and everything,
- 14:53everything was covered throughout the whole case.
- 14:57So now you know, these young guys, they're, there's all sorts
- 15:02of advertising on Instagram, on this, on Billboard.
- 15:05The problem with that is from talking to the judges, you can
- 15:08get the case, but you don't have a wherewithal to actually be a
- 15:12lawyer, know what to do with the case.
- 15:14And it's sort of, you know, I don't like to see it.
- 15:18Well, he's because that's one of the things that we're going to
- 15:20ask you, you know, being in 42 years, is that one of the
- 15:24biggest things that you've seen change and, and the in your
- 15:28world. Comedia and the access to the
- 15:31different ways to attract clients, the attentive nature of
- 15:40it, I don't really get involved in that.
- 15:42But yeah, just the whole advertising team has really
- 15:46changed. And also, I think has created
- 15:49less of a collegiality among lawyers because it's more like,
- 15:56you know, every man for themselves.
- 15:58It's, you know, I don't really get involved in that, but it's
- 16:00sort of sad to see. And I, you know, Scott, you,
- 16:04you've got a reputation though, of, of being able to move pretty
- 16:08freely and respected because you go into war sometimes with the
- 16:15men in blue, you know, police, you know, you've, you've got the
- 16:20prosecutors that you've got to work with.
- 16:22And you know, is, is that something like if you were going
- 16:27to give a young guy that's coming into the business, I, I'm
- 16:32assuming that one of the things you might tell him is it's,
- 16:35it's, it's the little things that make a difference and.
- 16:40I'll give you an example. Every time I go into a
- 16:44courtroom, especially if I'm untenaling A courtroom, I make
- 16:47it my business first thing to know everybody in that
- 16:50courtroom, who the bailiff is, who the court reporter is, who
- 16:53the court clerk is, and treat them with respect.
- 16:56So many young lawyers all of a sudden think that they're now
- 17:00that they're a lawyer makes them better than these people.
- 17:03They have no clue. These people can ruin your, ruin
- 17:06your life, literally ruin your life.
- 17:08And they're a direct ear to the judge.
- 17:11So if you're rotten to them, what do you think the judge is
- 17:14going to do to you? So I don't see a lot of, and
- 17:20that goes back to, I don't think there's a lot of mentoring going
- 17:22on now for young lawyers and just on their own.
- 17:25I try to with lawyers and my generation, well, unfortunately
- 17:29a lot of them are starting to die off, but a lot of my
- 17:33generation has always done that. Young guys like Don Wolf,
- 17:37Margulus, Daryl Barris, those guys, but you don't see a lot of
- 17:45that anymore. Well, do you think I know a lot
- 17:50of people and a lot of people listen to this?
- 17:52We're, we're kind of running down our, our lane here, People
- 17:56who've, who are looking for good criminal defense attorneys and
- 17:59people who have been through the system.
- 18:03Everybody wants the best defense they can get and they want the
- 18:07best attorney they can get. But I was curious on your side
- 18:12with what makes a good client for you?
- 18:15Like what? What can a?
- 18:17What can a client do to help you?
- 18:21Well, it's a two way street. So I think the first thing to
- 18:25recognize is not to be jaded and realize that this individual is
- 18:30coming to you at their worst possible moment.
- 18:34And although things move in slow motion for us, because we've
- 18:39been through it so many times, a lot of clients are like they
- 18:43used to confuse, especially white collar clients all of a
- 18:46sudden are facing federal criminal justice system for the
- 18:48first time in their life. And you know, everything is it's
- 18:52like all of a sudden it's things can move quickly in federal
- 18:55systems. Like all of a sudden, you know,
- 18:58somebody said, OK, well, here's the deal.
- 18:59You got to learn. You got to learn Greek in three
- 19:02weeks or a month and then sort through it and make informed
- 19:05decisions based on what you just learned in Greek.
- 19:08And a lot of times what I see is the breakdown of communication
- 19:13is that lawyers don't they get jaded and they don't take the
- 19:16necessary time to realize what this person's going through on
- 19:20all different levels that you go through the process.
- 19:22A lot of especially white collar clients can't wrap their brain
- 19:26around why this isn't a civil case, especially when they've
- 19:30been in business the whole life. And I used to dealing with
- 19:34business controversies and everything is resolved by
- 19:36negotiation or by settlement or by finances.
- 19:40And they it's very difficult to explain that this isn't
- 19:44necessarily and may be in business controversy, but it has
- 19:48touched upon certain statutes that may implicate federal
- 19:53crimes. You know, and a lot of look, I
- 19:57think it more I'm going off on a tangent.
- 20:01I love it. More white collar defendants
- 20:04would press the system. You'd find a lot more not
- 20:07guilty, OK? So that's that's a question I
- 20:10wanted to ask you because it's something we talk about a lot on
- 20:15the show with guests. So that, you know, there's the
- 20:19crazy, I'm only talking about the federal side here, but
- 20:23there's a crazy statistic out there.
- 20:24It can go some people use 96%, some people use 97%, some 98%.
- 20:30In the federal system, if you're indicted, 9697% of the people
- 20:37plea, and that's a big percentage.
- 20:41OK, Well, I think that the the statistic I always heard was 96
- 20:46to 97% conviction rate. And, and and that's a misnomer
- 20:52because the Department of Justice takes the conviction
- 20:55rate includes people that have pled guilty, right?
- 20:59If you take strictly trials, the rate will go down.
- 21:02Now I've heard that all the time.
- 21:03I mean, there's a lot of, you know, Horror Story, so to speak,
- 21:08when a person enters the federal system and they start talking to
- 21:11people, especially if they can't get bond and they're
- 21:13incarcerated and things of that nature.
- 21:15And they and and they like to promote that data.
- 21:19The feds like to promote that data because it dissuades people
- 21:23from going to trial. And, you know, I've heard
- 21:26thousands of times, well, you can't be decided.
- 21:28Well, you can't. I mean, you know, I'll be the
- 21:31first to tell you probably one more than 80% of my state cases.
- 21:34And I've tried a lot more state cases in federal cases, but I'm
- 21:37sure I've tried 4050 federal trials by now, maybe more, I
- 21:42don't know, which is a lot because federal cases don't go
- 21:45to trial that often. I'm sure I've won over half, but
- 21:50you got to take the risk and it takes a certain makeup for an.
- 21:57Individual and I'm wondering in your, in your position because
- 22:03when somebody comes to you, especially we're talking about
- 22:05white collar cases. Let's just say we're talking
- 22:07about white collar cases. The guy doesn't know anything
- 22:09about anything. He's been running a company and
- 22:11all of a sudden he's looking at losing everything he's got.
- 22:15And, and they're, they're stacking charges and, and you
- 22:19know the way they stack those things, they can carry 20 years
- 22:22apiece when they stack things. So you could be looking at
- 22:26hundreds of years, but if you know that somebody has a really
- 22:32good case, but this guy is freaked out on this side that
- 22:37he's having everybody say, well, my God, you could go away
- 22:40forever. How do you balance that out,
- 22:42Scott to so not dissuade him from the fact that he's scared
- 22:47to death over here, but to really give him confidence that,
- 22:50hey, man, you've got a really good case here.
- 22:52If you if you trust me, I I could take this and and make
- 22:55something of it. It's really a balancing act
- 22:57because first of all, historically I've I have found
- 23:03that the most dissatisfied client are the clients that feel
- 23:09that they were forced somehow by some outside forces, whoever
- 23:13that may be. When it's the lawyer or whether
- 23:14it's family to plead guilty when they really didn't want to plead
- 23:17guilty versus the client that goes to trial and assuming that
- 23:24in that trial they had a very effective lawyer and they fought
- 23:27like hell and they made all the points, win, lose or draw, that
- 23:30client typically is happier because they feel like they have
- 23:34been hurt. So I don't ever want to be the
- 23:37lawyer to push them one way or the other.
- 23:40Obviously, I want to provide all the information now.
- 23:45You know, there's cases that, you know, there's reams of
- 23:50videotape and audio tape and informants.
- 23:53You know, there's cases where I had a situation where the man
- 23:58that was being investigated would go into the office every
- 24:00day. Everybody in the office was
- 24:02wearing wires. So, you know, that's bad, that's
- 24:05bad, that's bad, that's bad, bad.
- 24:09But I never want to push them one way or the other.
- 24:12I, I basically, I just try to be a support.
- 24:14If you want to go to trial, here's the good, the bad and the
- 24:16ugly. What can you guarantee?
- 24:18Of course I can't guarantee you. I what, what do you think the
- 24:20odds are? This is, you know, this isn't a
- 24:22horse race. I can tell you the best.
- 24:24I could tell you, I think we got a significant chance to win.
- 24:27And if we win, obviously those to take the biggest risks, get
- 24:29the biggest rewards. And if we lose, you're passing
- 24:32up this. It's all about being informed.
- 24:35Here's the best deal on the table in the federal system.
- 24:38You can't really, unless you get like an 11 C 1C, you can't
- 24:42guarantee that's where the judge is going to land.
- 24:44The judge can go anywhere for the most part within the
- 24:47statutory range. And if you lose, here's what
- 24:51you're looking at. And as long as they have all the
- 24:53information to make an informed consent, that's really all you
- 24:57can do as a lawyer. But you know, the, the emotions
- 25:05that one goes through with their family and that, you know, all
- 25:10the things that they're being considered.
- 25:11If I lose, I'm going to be away from my family for this long or
- 25:14it's jail. Like, you know, a lot of these,
- 25:16a lot of times you're only, the only time your, your freedom has
- 25:20been restricted is, you know, when you had to stay home to
- 25:23take care of the kids, right? They don't know about restricted
- 25:25freedom. So it's, it's a lot to swallow,
- 25:29but they have, you know, it's, it's got to be the individual's
- 25:32choice once they have all the information.
- 25:35Yeah, and I guess that's the that's the point is once they
- 25:37have all the information and and I mean, I think it would be
- 25:41tough for me as an attorney if I knew somebody was really passing
- 25:49it up. I mean, it would be hard for me
- 25:51not to get emotionally involved. And I know in your position, you
- 25:54can't really get emotionally involved with it needs to be
- 25:59black and white. This is this is this is your
- 26:03good stuff. This is the stuff they're going
- 26:04to come at you with. We're going to talk about your,
- 26:07you know, if we're talking about white collar, we're going to
- 26:09talk about the money you made, the houses you have and all the
- 26:11other stuff on that. That's going to be built up into
- 26:14a big deal. We might be able to get past all
- 26:16that. And then, you know, and here, if
- 26:19we lose, this is this is what you're looking at.
- 26:21They're they're they're taking this charge, this charge, this
- 26:23charge. There's jet stack in it, you
- 26:25know. I'm real black and white and
- 26:26this and in these decisions, all Gray.
- 26:28It is Gray. It's just all Gray and you got
- 26:31to have the, I guess the courage, for lack of a better
- 26:35word, of fortitude to go through it and take your best shot.
- 26:39And a lot of people, I, I, I represented have some have lost
- 26:43a lot of one. But I, I can't name anyone
- 26:47that's gone through the trial and been, has been unhappy.
- 26:50They may be unhappy with the results.
- 26:52They didn't want to be convicted, but they're not
- 26:54unhappy that they went through the trial.
- 26:57Well, I mean, some people say that the, you know, because
- 27:01it's, it's kind of known that first of all, the federal
- 27:04government doesn't go to trial very often.
- 27:05They don't necessarily like to go to trial.
- 27:08And many people who go to trial feel like they got a penalty for
- 27:13going to trial if they lose. You feel like that's true.
- 27:16Yes, and it's well, there's a penalty baked in to the
- 27:21guidelines. You get 3 points, you don't get
- 27:24your 3 points for acceptance of responsibilities.
- 27:27If, if that person testifies, there's another penalty baked
- 27:30into the guidelines, another two points.
- 27:33So that's a 5 point swing. And depending on where you're
- 27:35at, that could be up to six, 7-8 years.
- 27:38And then of course the under the statute 1835513553, they can,
- 27:51the judge can look at it and give more time, I mean
- 27:56theoretically less time. Right, right.
- 28:00Well, I want to take a break here because when I get back, I
- 28:02want to talk to you a little bit of just about the criminal.
- 28:04It's, it's a big topic now, the whole criminal justice system
- 28:08and, and what's works, what's broken.
- 28:13I want, I want your, I want to get your opinions on that.
- 28:16Where we do that. A lot of people don't like how
- 28:18they show up online. Many individuals think there's
- 28:21no hope when it comes to manage your reputation on Google.
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- 28:36To learn more, visit discoverability.co, not.com.co
- 28:42and listeners of Nightmare Success.
- 28:43Get $100 off the DIYSEL course with coupon code Nightmare
- 28:47Success. Nightmare Success Podcast is
- 28:49sponsored by the White Collar Support Group, the world's first
- 28:52support group devoted to people navigating the white collar
- 28:55criminal justice system. I'm a member of the White Collar
- 28:57Support Group, and I tell you, there's a bunch of people who
- 28:59help each other through the criminal justice journey for
- 29:01free. Whether you're just starting
- 29:03your journey or you've made it through the other side, this is
- 29:05great space for you. You can join us on Zoom Monday,
- 29:077:00 PM Eastern Time. And we've got the White Collar
- 29:10Conference. It's coming up October 11th.
- 29:14We got keynote speakers of Joe Bankman, who is the father of
- 29:19Sam Bankman Freed, and we've got Jeffrey Toobin who's written the
- 29:24book The Pardon. So if you want to check that
- 29:25out, go to prisons.org. OK, Scott, we're back.
- 29:33So, you know, you just turn you turn on the news anytime, any
- 29:39time of the day on any of the channels and they're talking
- 29:42about they're talking about law affair.
- 29:44They're talking about, you know, the criminal justice system and
- 29:47it's broken or the BOP. And then and there's some
- 29:50incredible things that are going on that's never happened before.
- 29:53Like Josh Smith, he was the deputy director of the BOP.
- 29:57He was an ex felon from the BOP. So it's the first time that's
- 30:02ever happened. So there are things that are
- 30:04happening. But I wanted to ask, she's got
- 30:10like being around it for so long.
- 30:14I know that you have opinions on some things that work and don't
- 30:18work and but if you were given a day in a magic wand to say I'd
- 30:23like to fix the things that I don't like and it would make it
- 30:27better, what would that be? What would I fix?
- 30:34Well, there's a long list I'm on.
- 30:36We have. We got a long time if you want,
- 30:38take it. I would, I would start with the
- 30:47tower. I spent talking about the feds.
- 30:51Now at a certain extent in the state, the most power power
- 30:55there is in the justice system is the power to choose who
- 31:02you're going to prosecute, how you're going to prosecute them,
- 31:06where you're going to prosecute them.
- 31:07Because there's a lot of inequities in the state system
- 31:11where you're going to prosecute can mean the difference between
- 31:13seeking a death penalty or not. Certainly because of a different
- 31:19borderline of different border, different state.
- 31:22In the federal system, there's a certain randomness that is I
- 31:31find unsettling. And you know, I've been close
- 31:34friends with a lot of the US attorneys, the actual US
- 31:36attorneys and the decision makers as to who to prosecute
- 31:40and who not. What case is significant enough?
- 31:42What case isn't significant enough and how comes the one's
- 31:46attention or not has a randomness that I'm not thrilled
- 31:50about. For instance, you know, I don't
- 31:52think you ought to be reading a newspaper to pick out if you're
- 31:54going to prosecute it. That doesn't right.
- 31:58I think it should start like all criminal cases with a victim
- 32:03somewhere, somehow, whether it's a white collar victim or a
- 32:07victim of of some sort of violence or something.
- 32:12It doesn't always work that way. So I would I would figure out a
- 32:16different way of charging people.
- 32:18The grand jury is a joke. I mean, obviously anyone that
- 32:22thinks the grand jury has any semblance of protection is
- 32:26often. Scott, don't you think a lot of
- 32:28people are confused about what a grand jury is?
- 32:30Because most of the time you think of a regular jury that the
- 32:34both the both the defense attorney and the prosecuting
- 32:37attorney are in there and they're presenting their case
- 32:40and it's not it. They're the prosecutors
- 32:43presenting a case to a jury, and they decide, well, that sounds
- 32:46pretty bad. And that's why the whole thing
- 32:49of, you know, you can, you know, dyed a ham sandwich.
- 32:51You're presenting a side of your story, and that's the story they
- 32:55hear. So a grand jury is simply
- 32:57between simply comprised of 16 to 23 people.
- 33:00Of those of those people, 12 people have to vote for a true
- 33:04bill. It's a very low standard.
- 33:05It's just more likely than not that a crime has been committed
- 33:07and the person that they're looking at committed the crime.
- 33:10There's no defense lawyer, there's no judge.
- 33:11There's just a prosecutor typically just offering law
- 33:15enforcement of some sort to outline a narrative.
- 33:17So it really offers, in my view, almost zero protection.
- 33:22It's supposed to offer protection, but it's never used
- 33:25that way. It's used more often than not as
- 33:27a tool. There's there has been some
- 33:31cases where the grand jury has decided not to true bill, but
- 33:34those are rare. Often times the grand jury is
- 33:36used as a sort of a protection for the prosecutor when they
- 33:41want a reason not to charge and they can blame it on the grand
- 33:45jury. If it's a grand jury, 99% of the
- 33:47time it's going to do whatever the prosecutor wants.
- 33:49So you are the US attorney. So in a pet jury is obviously
- 33:52the juries that we're familiar with in criminal cases comprised
- 33:57of 12 people. And it has to be news.
- 34:00And it's, you know, they, you go through the process, whatever
- 34:03evidence is approved, you go in, they view it, witnesses are
- 34:06subjected to cross examination. There's arguments and they have
- 34:11to prove the case behind a reasonable belt.
- 34:13Government does. Grand juries don't offer much
- 34:17protection. So if you were going to fix the
- 34:20grand jury, would you just allow the Scott Rosenblum in the room?
- 34:24Well, that throws into my first point.
- 34:25There has to be more accountability for who's being
- 34:28how you're making charging decisions.
- 34:30Right. I mean, that's a big problem
- 34:32because there's a lot of people that get swept out the channel
- 34:35business being in that situation.
- 34:37And and as you know, goes back to our some of our original
- 34:41points once the finger of accusation lands on you,
- 34:45especially when you've never been in the system, I mean,
- 34:48that's frightening. No, it's unbelievable.
- 34:50And it frightens everybody around you, too.
- 34:53You know, the people can get freaked out that that person's
- 34:57got a feather that landed on his head.
- 35:00And all the people that are around or surrounding you get
- 35:03freaked out because. Yeah.
- 35:07And the and that's the end up point.
- 35:13There's a, the, there's, there's, I have met US
- 35:17attorneys, the actual, some actual US attorneys and some
- 35:20lying prosecutors that have some recognition of that or some
- 35:25feeling about that. But more often than that,
- 35:28there's, and maybe they shouldn't, I don't know, but
- 35:30there's 0 empathy for your client.
- 35:32They did something wrong. My job is to prosecute them.
- 35:36If they're suffering collateral damage, if they're going, you
- 35:39know, not be with their kids or their wife or their business,
- 35:41they should have thought about that.
- 35:43It's just very, very black and white, binary, black, white.
- 35:48They did something wrong, like a robot.
- 35:50I got to prosecute them. But they're human beings and
- 35:53everybody's not the same and everybody doesn't fit into a
- 35:56box. There's not enough of that.
- 36:01That area, those boxes that you can really maneuver in the
- 36:04federal system more now than ever, to a certain extent,
- 36:08depending on the mandatory minimum sentences.
- 36:10But it's, you know, I don't think there's much understanding
- 36:15from the prosecution side. You want to be understanding
- 36:20from the victim side. I do.
- 36:22I mean, when I hear my clients side, you know, when I'm going
- 36:26through what the process is going to be like, I always make
- 36:29sure they understand that you're going to hear it from some
- 36:33victims and it's going to be pretty.
- 36:35There's going to be a lot of anguish.
- 36:38And oftentimes in the white collar cases, the victims
- 36:44allocution can be a lot more painful than even in violent
- 36:48cases. I mean, when you hear, you know,
- 36:51cases hypothetically were not hypothetically were potentially,
- 36:55like the money manager has stolen money from some of their
- 37:00longtime clients, especially elderly people.
- 37:03And they're up there telling the judge that I trusted every dime
- 37:06I had with this individual. He's been to my house.
- 37:09He's been to my party. He's taking care of my kids.
- 37:12He's taking care of the college planes for my kids.
- 37:15And then I woke up one day and I realized I had zero.
- 37:18And now I have to work as a greeter of Walmart.
- 37:21And, you know, they're basically think their life is over.
- 37:24That's tough to hear. Yeah, very tough.
- 37:27And and there's and a lot of these cases, there's real
- 37:30victims. And but I, I, I agree with you
- 37:33on obviously being a defendant. You, you feel like you're,
- 37:38you're not a person that's seen as a real live human being on
- 37:42the other side. And, and for some people like,
- 37:45you know, for me that with my case, I never even spoke to the
- 37:48other side, never had a conversation.
- 37:50So it was just this, you know, punching in the dark, you know,
- 37:54it was never sitting down and, and, and even getting a feel for
- 37:58what these people were like because I, I.
- 38:00You know, a lot of people that go through that feel especially
- 38:05educated, smart people, especially people that have been
- 38:11persuasive most of their lives, feel like only if I had the
- 38:14opportunity to sit down and explain my side, right?
- 38:17Well, it just doesn't work that way because if you do that,
- 38:22everything you explain, you're going to wind up in a three O 2
- 38:25or police report be used against you.
- 38:28Let's talk about 3 O twos because I don't know if it's
- 38:32changed since my time, but three O twos are things that an
- 38:40investigator, an FBI agent will interview a person and that
- 38:45becomes part of their investigation and evidence and
- 38:49whatever else that goes on with that, that conversation that
- 38:53this person has. What I find fascinating about 3
- 38:56O twos is they're not recorded and, and, and there can be, you
- 39:02know, a charge against you if you've taken a three O 2 And,
- 39:07and in your person in in this case, A3O2 can actually turn out
- 39:12that you've misrepresented or stated the facts or whatever
- 39:15they say that you've said in this three O 2 that you've lied
- 39:18to a government official. I can't figure out for the life
- 39:22of me, Scott, why that rule can't be changed.
- 39:25Just if I'm going to have a conversation with you, God knows
- 39:29there's plenty of recording devices to be had. 18 United
- 39:32States Code 1001 violation for lying to a government official.
- 39:36That should be changed. It's very frustrating.
- 39:38So they don't record it and you know, but that's defense.
- 39:43That's why the feds have this reputation because through the
- 39:46years it's stacked up to really make it difficult.
- 39:51When you talk about the three O twos, you can't they're witness
- 39:56statements now typically in a criminal case that this all the
- 40:00discoveries turned over to you, right?
- 40:02Say in a homicide case, every witness statement that's you're
- 40:05supposed to have, it's recording.
- 40:07You can transcribe it, you have it from the beginning.
- 40:09Whatever the first batch of discovery is in the federal
- 40:12system, most 3O2's are protected by the Jenks Act 18, United
- 40:17States Film 3500 and the the absolute literal meaning of
- 40:22that. Law says because says that
- 40:28you're not the lawyer is not entitled to the statements, the
- 40:32memorialized statements of the witness until after direct and
- 40:37right before cross. Now it has expanded typically to
- 40:42a local rule that we get at three days before trial and
- 40:44sometimes stacks this day. Oh.
- 40:46For sure. And then you can make a motion
- 40:48for early production of Yanks, but you're still not getting it
- 40:51much in advance. And the reason that rule came
- 40:54into effect was I think the case in the 60s where the government
- 41:00lost, so they legislated a new rule.
- 41:04So, you know, that's, that's why the feds have this reputation
- 41:07every and then, you know, all the, the a lot of the laws were
- 41:13designed and they just go for a criminal defendant.
- 41:15The federal system 4 O 4B on it. Typically if you have a prior
- 41:19conviction, it's not coming into evidence unless you take the
- 41:23witness to the federal system. They can introduce it as
- 41:26evidence. It could have some some
- 41:29relevance to the case. It's tough.
- 41:34So do you think we've talked about a couple of different
- 41:39things here? What do you think's the biggest
- 41:41thing that if it could be changed, it would it could
- 41:45balance it a little bit better because I mean, you're up
- 41:50against it all the time. I mean it you you're one of the
- 41:54one of my guests said, you know, you can, you can play against
- 41:58and go to court trial with with the feds.
- 42:01But it's like your beer softball league team going against to
- 42:05play the LA Dodgers. It also depends, you know, if
- 42:08you've got a. Yeah, it's, I would just focus
- 42:10on levelling the play. If you you're getting rid of the
- 42:14jet's material that doesn't come over until three days before
- 42:17trial, right before why? What's the purpose of?
- 42:20Yeah. Why is that?
- 42:21There is no, I, I haven't heard a good explanation other than
- 42:24that's what the law is. Well, I mean, the government's
- 42:27entitled to it. They're looking at all this
- 42:28stuff. I mean, why is there a race
- 42:30against time when we get it? Why, you know, have a a grand
- 42:34jury system with more T have somebody, maybe some oversee
- 42:39where who decides who's going to be charged or not, because it's
- 42:43all subjective. They're all human beings making,
- 42:47you know, it's just like. I like that, Scott, have
- 42:51somebody that's a mediator almost that it's it's, it's
- 42:57presented in the office and that person says there's some kind of
- 43:02standard. Yeah, but it can't be distorted.
- 43:05So it would have to be sort of a higher level supervision, maybe
- 43:08like a maybe, you know, panel of three or four other ex US
- 43:13attorneys maybe aside to the political aisle.
- 43:17But let's take a look at this. Why are we now some obviously,
- 43:20you know, obviously if somebody's blowing up buildings,
- 43:22that's a no brainer or some obvious acts of terrorism, these
- 43:26acts of violence or some of those situations.
- 43:30But when it's when these cases are going to turn on one man's
- 43:37decision, maybe it should be reviewed by others.
- 43:41Yeah, I like that. I'm wondering like with you, you
- 43:45know, with, because you get involved in some of these, you
- 43:48know, these big cases they have, you know, gigantic outcomes,
- 43:54good or bad, when it's almost like when you play a big game
- 44:00sports wise, I'm sure a win stays with you for a little
- 44:05while. What does a loss do?
- 44:08You don't want to be around me when I lose such tough so you
- 44:14pour look if you approach trials like I always have pour
- 44:18everything you have into the case and you're getting up at
- 44:213:30 in the morning and he let the facts aren't great.
- 44:24By the time I'm giving a closing argument, I have 100% convinced
- 44:27myself that a good outcome and you know, you're on this
- 44:33adrenaline and when the, when the case is over, there's the
- 44:39adrenaline leaves and that result, hopefully it's good
- 44:43stays with you. But you know, sort of like even
- 44:46when I win, when the adrenaline leaves, it's not as great as it
- 44:52should be, if that makes sense. Yeah.
- 44:55It's like goes away and you know, the only thing is, and
- 44:59this is, this is just human nature.
- 45:03Everybody likes to say they're all about justice.
- 45:06Well, I mean, that's bullshit. That's just bullshit.
- 45:08The only, the only justice you may get is if you have a very
- 45:12fair judge, because every prosecutor is not about justice.
- 45:18They are trying the case to win. They celebrate their victories.
- 45:22They celebrate. They come back to the office and
- 45:24say we just got this amount of time.
- 45:26We got more time than we asked for.
- 45:28We got everything we wanted. That's an individual win.
- 45:33And same with the fence. A lot of times the defense
- 45:37lawyers are judge, you know, they judge just by the result
- 45:41that we win or did we lose? I don't know.
- 45:43When you really think about it and when you think about the way
- 45:47our system was initially set up, it shouldn't be about wins and
- 45:50losses. It should be a search for the
- 45:52truth. And if you everybody does a good
- 45:55job. Look, I've never second guessed
- 45:57a jury I may have in my brain. I'll never grow because I
- 46:01believe in the jury system. And I believe that's, you know.
- 46:05And I think that is and you want justice, you want truth, but you
- 46:12know, there's so much that happens before it somebody even
- 46:14steps into that courtroom. You've got a talking indictment
- 46:19that the that they freely will go out and and the media will
- 46:23eat that up and and that becomes something that is fed throughout
- 46:27either the community or the nation.
- 46:29And then you're going to pull in a jury that, you know, if
- 46:32they've been watching and listening and whatever, they're
- 46:34going to have an opinion on that, whether they say they,
- 46:36they or they don't. And then you walk into a
- 46:39courtroom and it's it's innocent until proven guilty.
- 46:44Except for the fact most people will assume that if that person
- 46:49got indicted, they must have done something.
- 46:52Well, yeah, I've spent a lot of time on Jury Flash and asking
- 46:55about all those questions. And it's funny, you know, I, I
- 47:00think jury selection is the most important, one of, if not the
- 47:03most important part of the case because that's your opportunity
- 47:06to sort of change how people use things.
- 47:11You know, when I especially on a case, as I mean, I'll give you
- 47:19an example, when you show up in court and the judge says, ladies
- 47:23and gentlemen, you've been called for a criminal case.
- 47:26The state has alleged Mr. Smith over there has been is accused
- 47:30of 6 lbs of statutory rape and statutory sodomy.
- 47:35I mean, at that point, if there's 50 perspectives, I have
- 47:38100 eyes staring at me. I mean, they're going to put
- 47:40somebody away. It's either going to be him or
- 47:42me. So, so stand up.
- 47:45I started immediately trying to switch the narrative and I'll
- 47:49I'll just address things straight on.
- 47:50I'll say look, I looked at y'all's eyes.
- 47:52I know that y'all stared at me and stared at my client and had
- 47:56all these different thoughts. Would you agree with me that
- 47:58yeah, it's awful. I think this is an awful crime.
- 48:04We can all agree with statutory sodomy.
- 48:05Statutory rape is just an awful crime.
- 48:07We also agree that's equally awful to be charged with such
- 48:11crimes and be innocent. And then you start getting
- 48:14people in the conversation. Have you known people that have
- 48:16gone through it? They still have to deal with the
- 48:18stigma, but this is their only point or their only chance to
- 48:22exonerate their name of these awful charges.
- 48:25And you know, you start hammering that.
- 48:28I, I think that's such a great point because I think it's
- 48:31something that's so overlooked is, is that jury selection?
- 48:35It's usually like it's hurried that somebody's, you know, we
- 48:37got to get this going so we can get the trial going.
- 48:39But that. That's another point of
- 48:41contention that I have when judges want to, you know, chop,
- 48:47chop, chop and hurry, where are they going?
- 48:50I mean, if they're not doing that, what are they doing?
- 48:51They, they hate to be a judge. Why do we have to hurt?
- 48:56Why do you I got the only you're only going to get 15 minutes for
- 48:58jury selection. You're only going to get 20
- 49:00minutes for this, or 45 minutes. Why is that?
- 49:04Where's the fire? What?
- 49:05What? And especially in the federal
- 49:07system, there's not that many that go to trial.
- 49:08So let's enjoy this. Let's get let's get the whole
- 49:10full meal deal here. Full hearing, I mean, why is
- 49:14everybody rushing? I mean, I got a guy sitting here
- 49:16whose life is on the line An extra 5 minutes we're going to
- 49:20is going to be the worst thing that ever had could come on.
- 49:23I would actually good point. So to go, I've gone to judges in
- 49:28the federal system because they like to give you time on it.
- 49:30So I said, look, let me negotiate with you.
- 49:34You said 1/2 hour for jury selection.
- 49:37Give me 45 minutes to take 15 minutes away in my opening
- 49:40statement. And you know, sometimes I can
- 49:43get that done and then they forget about it and I do the
- 49:46opening way I want to anyway. But I've been known to negotiate
- 49:49time. Does it, does it feel you know?
- 49:54Because Scott, you're at the point now you don't have to do
- 49:56any more trials. You're doing it because you like
- 49:58to do it. You still like the passion, the
- 49:59competitive juice that you. Get I don't have any hobbies, I
- 50:02still love it. Yeah.
- 50:04What? So, yeah.
- 50:07Do you golf? No.
- 50:09OK, all right, well, that's that would be something that would
- 50:12take up time. And I know you've got you've got
- 50:15the you've got 4 kids and and you've got a place down in
- 50:19Florida and and you know, time is valuable, especially when you
- 50:23get to a certain age. I mean, that's what I feel is
- 50:27that, but where you are now, it's it's got to be because you
- 50:35were, you were, you were naming off people, known people in, in,
- 50:40in the business that you looked up to.
- 50:42Do you have guys calling you saying, hey, if I could just
- 50:47talk to Scott Rosenblue, maybe I could figure?
- 50:50All the time. I always give you time.
- 50:52I have. We'll call on at least once a
- 50:53week. Can you give me, can you help me
- 50:55with your research? Can you help me with this?
- 50:56What's what's your thought on this?
- 50:58On this theory of Yeah. Well, you're at that point.
- 51:02And how, how far do you think you're going to go?
- 51:04I mean, you're what, 68 now? I'm 10 years older than you.
- 51:08Yeah, you're 10 years older than me.
- 51:10So much more handsome than me. That's annoying.
- 51:12Well, I one of the things that they said was from the office.
- 51:15When I was in the office they said make sure you ask Scott
- 51:18what it's like to always be the best looking guy in the room.
- 51:21I'm not anymore. How long are we going to go?
- 51:32My bad answer was I was going to try cases until somebody can try
- 51:35and better, but that sounds too egotistical.
- 51:40I would say maybe look one of my heroes.
- 51:44I didn't have a lot of guys that I would actually watch.
- 51:49I certainly think lawyers need to develop their own style.
- 51:52They can't copy off, but he comes off so operate.
- 51:55But one of my close friends before he died was Charlie Shaw.
- 51:59And in fairness, legend, you had a great trial work.
- 52:05He was trying cases in the days, but they didn't have as much
- 52:08discovery. So, I mean, he had, you know, he
- 52:11had his knack, but he was, he tried cases until he was well
- 52:17into his 80s. And I was watching one of his
- 52:20last cases and there was a group of public defenders sitting
- 52:23behind me and they were sort of ridiculing him, like they came
- 52:26to watch Charlie Shaw and they were just saying this can't be.
- 52:30Yeah, it's kind of like an old boxer.
- 52:32Yeah, and I want this. This guy's forgotten more than
- 52:35you guys will ever know. So I you don't want to be like
- 52:38the last days of Charlie Shaw. I got that one done on that
- 52:41side. And I rely on people around me.
- 52:44Honestly, just watch me try a lot of cases, like, you know,
- 52:48all the lawyers in my office. And that's your niece, right?
- 52:51Yeah, Ally. Ally, to say, you know, you're
- 52:57not as good as you used to be, and that will never sit well
- 53:00with me if I'm not used to be. I gotta quit.
- 53:04I mean, I may hang out and be like a some sort of Master Yoda
- 53:07and give advice. Yeah, Yeah.
- 53:09You know, I only watched me try a case for the first time when
- 53:11she was here. And she came up to me afterwards
- 53:15and she said, God, now I finally know what all the hoopla was
- 53:17about. I said, what do you think?
- 53:19I was just so schmucked. I mean, come on, you think I've
- 53:25been for two years, for 43 years on the wing and a prayer.
- 53:29There has to be some substance, right?
- 53:31I. Love that.
- 53:34Oh, now I see it. Now I see it.
- 53:37And she's, like, amazed. They said, OK, we'll see there's
- 53:40some substance. But, you know, being just being,
- 53:43you know, rumbling around the office.
- 53:46I can, I can rally you get in court still.
- 53:48Yeah, no. And I like that.
- 53:49I mean, that's a that's a good mindset to have too.
- 53:51I'm going to do it as long as I feel like I'm as good as I am,
- 53:55and if I'm not, then I don't want to go in and do that.
- 53:58That's. Right.
- 53:59I take my, I take my job, my role very seriously and people
- 54:05are relying on me and relying on me to put out my best
- 54:09performance, my best effort, my best work every time their
- 54:13life's on the line. That goes back to people being
- 54:16jaded. I mean, you can never be
- 54:18treated. Somebody trusts you with their
- 54:19life. I mean the the a.
- 54:22Huge deal. And and if and the other thing
- 54:24Scott too, is, is that if no one's ever been in that
- 54:27situation, it's hard to explain, you know, when you have your
- 54:34basically the life in somebody else's hands and they're
- 54:37speaking for you in a courtroom. That's that's heavy stuff on
- 54:41both sides. Yeah, yeah, it, it is.
- 54:47But I never take it lightly. And I I try and never be jaded.
- 54:50You know, when I hear other lawyers talking about
- 54:53themselves, mostly lawyers, I don't, I don't necessarily
- 54:56respect too much. And they talk about science is
- 55:00just a means to an end or how much they hate, hate what
- 55:04they're doing. You know, that really aggravates
- 55:08me. And I actually, I've gone up to
- 55:09a couple. I said, look, if if you truly
- 55:11hate what you're doing, then you need to leave.
- 55:14So these people are relying on somebody to be, to be the best
- 55:18they can be. And if you just absolutely
- 55:20despise what you're doing, you're not going to be that
- 55:22person. Right, so true.
- 55:25Well, you know, I always ask people at the end of the show
- 55:29what their greatest take away is to the nightmare that they went
- 55:32through. But in in this situation, Scott,
- 55:36I guess the better question is what's your greatest take away
- 55:39through your journey that you've been on and this, you know,
- 55:43you've created a legacy. What was?
- 55:47What would be the take away for the listeners?
- 55:51Never to give short shrift about the upset that I've had on human
- 55:58lives and people that have come to me, because it can be
- 56:01profound. Hopefully most of the time in a
- 56:03favorable way, but even if it doesn't work out in a negative
- 56:07way and it's life changing and it's, it's no different to me
- 56:11than a surgeon that can remove cancer.
- 56:15I mean, people come to me, it's like they have cancer.
- 56:17Can you help me diagnose it, cut it out?
- 56:21I'll do the best I can. But you know, it's you can't
- 56:26ever forget why these clients, these human beings and their
- 56:31family are sitting across from you and trusting you with their
- 56:36life to give them back their life.
- 56:38And you know, it's all the way from if you I've tried seven
- 56:43death penalty cases. I don't think I'll ever try
- 56:45another one again. It's too much.
- 56:47And fortunately there's not many around.
- 56:48But but even over 100 murder cases, if you lose, they can
- 56:53they go away forever. They die, they pet attention or
- 56:56not guilty, they walk out with That's a big point.
- 56:59But all the way down to, you know, a white collar case where
- 57:05the government saying, OK, just give them a year and a day.
- 57:08He's going to serve 10 months. Great.
- 57:11Except let's talk about the parade of horribles that come
- 57:14with that. He is now going from Joe Smith's
- 57:18respected businessman, respected in his community, respected in
- 57:21charities, respected like this, to now pariah Joe Smith as a
- 57:25convicted felon and everything. That moniker.
- 57:28He will never be Joe Smith without being a convicted felon.
- 57:32Yeah. And I never tried to lose sight
- 57:34of that. That's such a good point because
- 57:37you know, it's, it's, it's one of those things, Scott, as you
- 57:40know, there's so many barriers to people when they get out for
- 57:44re entry And and there's just a lot of laws.
- 57:49There's 44,000 laws on the books that are make it legal, you
- 57:52know, to discriminate against, you know, ex felons.
- 57:54But the, it's not impossible. It's just something that you're
- 58:01going to wear around your neck the rest of your life.
- 58:03And that's it's, it's so good to hear from your side.
- 58:07Is it? You don't, you don't take any of
- 58:09that for granted because it's such a big deal.
- 58:11It's yeah, a year and a day. The guy got a year and a day,
- 58:14but everything around him changed.
- 58:16Everything. Yeah.
- 58:18Even to the point, you know, to try to get a, a loan, you know,
- 58:21go to the bank, home, all the little things, right?
- 58:25All the little things. His life as he once knew it, or
- 58:28her life that she wants to do, it will never be the same.
- 58:31It's so true. It's such a good take away, man.
- 58:34I, I have enjoyed this interview.
- 58:38It's I think we covered a lot of ground here.
- 58:41It's good stuff. I want to give a shout out to
- 58:44Homestead financial list. We use this podcast room, all
- 58:47the fancy lights and cameras. And if you got home mortgage
- 58:50needs out there, Greg Gaffney of is your guy.
- 58:52He knows all that stuff. And if you, if you want to check
- 58:57out a book, I've got one. It's called I'm Your Success,
- 59:01Loyalty, betrayal, life behind bars, adapting, finally Breaking
- 59:04Free. And if you want to know what I'm
- 59:05doing, go to brickcassidy.com. I spell it wrong.
- 59:08I spell it with ATY, not ADY, as I used to say to my people when
- 59:12I was writing my emails back and forth from Leavenworth.
- 59:15Stay strong. I'll do the same.
- 59:16Scott Rosenblum, man, keep doing what you're doing.
- 59:20Keep doing what you're doing, man.
- 59:21It's good stuff. All right to say hello.