Gideon's Army

okay.

- you ready, your honor? - I'm ready.

jacquiese, stand up.

Jacquiese whelchel is not guilty of false imprisonment,

attempted false imprisonment,

terroristic threats, or battery.

Sit down.

The judge is gonna tell you

that if the state fails to prove their case,

it is your duty;

you must acquit.

That's the beauty of this system.

It's set up to give people the presumption of innocence,

to give them an opportunity to not just be heard

but hold the state accountable.

You want to take my liberty, you got to do it right,

and if you don't, acquit.

The fifth amendment to the united states constitution

guarantees it.

As I've made my objections throughout this trial,

it's to make sure that this kid gets a fair trial.

It's not a big case, is what they say.

They are saying that they have-- they have the gall to say

that this is not a big case.

There are huge consequences.

This boy will become a convicted felon.

That's the reality of it.

That's what this case represents.

Thank you.

- I'm scared man - I know it

- keep your head up. Don't look down.

it's almost over

- I've been advised that you've reached a verdict in the case.

yes, ma'am.

- madam clerk, if you'll please publish the verdict.

yes, ma'am.

In the superior court of hall county,

state of georgia versus jacquiese m'shawn whelchel,

we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty

this second day of november 2011,

count one, jury foreperson.

- my goal is to fill this wall up,

and then once I fill this wall up,

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Hopefully, like, my whole office

will just be covered in acquittals.

I decided, since the wins go on the wall,

the losses have to go somewhere,

and I'ma tattoo--

uh, I don't have any tattoos,

so I'm gonna get the last name of every case I've lost

tattooed on my back.

Right now it's only five, and hopefully it won't get--

hopefully I won't fill my back up.

That's the goal.

But since the wins go on the wall,

I decided the losses have to go somewhere,

and they'll go on my back,

'cause they're gonna be with me forever.

- when you work as a public defender,

you say to somebody,

"oh, I'm a public defender,"

and then they're like, "well, what does that mean?"

"i defend people who are charged with committing crimes,"

and then they'll say,

"how can you defend those people?"

I tell them the truth, and the truth is,

it's about the sanctity of human liberty

and the cost of it if you want to take it.

- hi. - how you doing?

- I'm well. How are you?

Trying cases is an adrenaline rush,

and when you win, there's a high.

But that is not the average day of a public defender.

this is great!

A client got approved

for the pretrial diversion program.

I am so excited for him.

Ah, if only we can get him out.

If we can't get him out, it's pointless

if his mom can't buy him out.

Hi, may I speak with miss howard?

Miss howard, how are--how are you?

This is brandy alexander

over at the public defender's office in clayton county.

I got a letter from the d.a.'s office today

indicating that they have referred him

to the pretrial diversion program.

Are you familiar with that at all?

It will allow him to have his charges dismissed.

Now, in order to get him in the pretrial diversion program,

he's gonna have to get out of jail.

You think you'll be able to do that?

I know it's a lot, miss howard.

I know.

The average person cannot come up with $3,000

in a month or in less than a month.

Is there any amount that you can afford?

Okay.

Your mom has 500. How much do you have?

You don't have anything.

Is his--

all right. I'll talk to you soon.

Bye-bye.

He's gonna have to choose between a trial and a plea.

being a public defender,

you realize very quickly

the reality is,

90% of the people or 95% of the people

who get charged with something

plead guilty to something, right?

Because the system is designed to force them to plead guilty,

and it punishes their failure to comply.

This is the way it really works.

You go to jail.

You're charged with an offense

based upon what a police officer thinks you did.

They set a bond,

and if you're poor and you can't make the bond,

you don't get out.

so you sit

and you sit

and you sit.

You may have lost your house.

Your kids may be needing sustenance.

You may have been taken out of high school--

all the things that could happen

if you were summarily plucked from your life.

You have so much tremendous pressure to plead guilty.

It's all about lessening the penalty.

That's what we do.

this is the kingdom.

Um...

These are crime scenes,

aerial depictions of burglaries and robberies

that I've collected.

This guy was charged with, like,

38 counts of burglary,

and it took--it took forever to close the case,

and I just kept the blowups from it.

There's really nothing to see in the house.

It's next door to the office.

That's my favorite thing about it.

It's next door to the office.

All I do is this.

I don't do anything else.

I don't have a wife and kids.

I do this. I do this for a living.

You know, in a given case,

if I don't do all I need to do,

somebody's gonna become a convicted felon,

and they go to prison.

They can't vote. They can't get a job.

Like, I think about that every case.

the job is just emergencies.

Everybody's in an emergency state.

Everybody's in jail

or charged with child molestation

or getting beat up

or something crazy is going on.

It's just--it's just chaos.

- judge, this is case number 2011cr252-c,

the state of georgia versus branden lee mullin.

On the incident date,

the defendant was with cody campbell,

and they discussed ordering a pizza.

They did discuss robbing the pizza man.

Cody campbell made the call,

and the car was approached by mr. mullin,

who put the knife to mr. wrengle's throat

and told him to freeze and to give him the money.

The investigation progressed from there.

when I get a case,

I'm more like an investigator than a lawyer.

I really consider myself a lot more like matlock

than f. lee bailey.

uh, just--just a statement.

Yeah, slightly incriminating.

You know, "i was there. I saw this guy jump out.

I didn't know what was going on."

no. no.

I believe he just happened to be

at the wrong place at the wrong time

hanging with a bunch of dummies.

But it ain't lookin' good.

But, oh, man, it'll break my heart

if this kid gets convicted.

Ten-year mandatory minimum, day for day.

yeah, 19.

- and our kid is a cute little white guy.

He's gonna have a rough time at the big boy prison,

'cause that's where they're gonna send armed robbers.

He's gonna have a rough time.

He probably won't live to see the ten years.

If he does, when he gets out,

I would hate to see him.

For 96 bucks.

All this shit over $96.

all rise.

- mr. mardell, you were charged with driving