Criminally Yours: A Dirty Little Secret

Here's a criminal defense attorney's view from the trenches, never as a prosecutor, judge, or jury, but always as an advocate for the guy who got arrested.

Ed. note: Please welcome Toni Messina to Above the Law. Her column will deal with the inner workings of what it’s like to be a criminal defense attorney.

If I had a penny for every time I met a perp, cross-examined a cop, or stood before a jury waiting for the foreperson to utter the words, “Guilty” or “Not guilty,” I’d never have to work again the rest of my life.

But then again, even if I could quit my job right now — I wouldn’t. See, the dirty secret about criminal law is — it’s fun. Sure, it’s tough, pressure packed, hectic; the stakes are high and someone’s freedom is always in the cross-hairs, but one thing it ain’t (unless you do mostly federal work), is boring.

It’s also sassy, challenging, iconoclastic, and at the same time humbling and soul crushing. There’s little glory to it. Very few people become Johnny Cochran. The only guy who will sing your praises is the one you just got out of jail, and who, within the next year or less, will probably get rearrested anyway and charged with the exact same thing if not worse.

I’ve been doing my job for more than 20 years, first as a public defender in New York City and now on my own. I’ve been to Rikers Island, Attica, and almost every other upstate prison you can name. I’ve tried hundreds of cases as stupid as fare beating to as serious as murder.

In this column, I’ll share with you a grab bag of stuff — from the crazy stories, the colorful characters, the “I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened” moments, to the practical lawyering skills like how to pick a jury, find a theme in your case, keep your nerves in the courtroom, and cross examine experts without putting your jurors to sleep.

We’ll take a look at some of the big stories of the day — the Ferguson grand jury, public defenders appearing in rap videos, trials and verdicts, cutting-edge developments in the law like false confessions, the foibles of I.D. evidence, the new science of DNA.

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One thing I can promise, it will never be boring.

Yes, I’m coming to this from a very particular set of experiences, a view from the trenches, never as a prosecutor, judge, or jury, but always as an advocate for the guy who got arrested. But then, that’s what feedback is for.

I look forward to taking you on this wacky journey and hearing your suggestions, questions and input. As Bette Davis said in All About Eve, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”


Toni Messina has been practicing criminal defense law since 1990, although during law school she spent one summer as an intern in a large Boston law firm and realized quickly it wasn’t for her. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a journalist from Rome, Italy, reporting stories of international interest for CBS News and NPR. She keeps sane by balancing her law practice with a family of three children, playing in a BossaNova band and dancing flamenco. She can be reached at tonimessinalw@gmail.com or tonimessinalaw.com.

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