Fourteen Layovers

Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport feels way too familiar as I upload this update on this, my fourteenth journey to Uganda in the past four years.  The fifteen days I will be on the ground are pregnant with unpredictability.  But such is life in Africa.

On Saturday, I delivered to LAX the nine members of the Uganda delegation who spent a frenetic week of what they are fond of calling “benchmarking” – studying the best practices in plea bargaining.  Over the past four years, I have had the privilege of assisting them as they seek to transition from a heavily back-logged criminal justice system where all criminal cases are tried before the court, to one in which a majority of cases are resolved through a negotiated guilty plea in advance of trial.  In the United States, something approaching 98% of all criminal cases are plea bargained.  Uganda’s current system leads to delays of up to five years (or more) between arrest and trial.  Part of the challenge arises from the fact that the constitutional right to a lawyer only effectively materializes when trial starts.  This, quite naturally, impedes quick resolution of criminal cases.

The delegation who came here is the third in the past four years to move the plea bargaining ball closer to the end zone.  We are now in the red zone and can smell the goalposts.  The delegation consisted primarily of the Plea Bargaining Task Force appointed by the former Chief Justice, which included the Principal Judge (head of the trial-level High Court of Uganda), the Head of the Criminal Division of the High Court, two more High Court judges, the Director of Public Prosecution for the country and one of his senior attorneys, the Secretary of the Task Force who works as a legislative drafter for Uganda’s Law Reform Commission, and the Personal Assistant to the Principal Judge, who is also an accomplished lawyer and scholar.  Rounding out the delegation was the Deputy Ambassador to the United States from Uganda (Dickson Ogwang), who flew in from Washington, DC and is someone I got to know during my first trip to Uganda in January of 2010.

Following a Mexican food meal at my house after they landed on Sunday evening, they endeavored to adjust to the ten-hour time difference with some much-needed sleep.  Monday was a full day of de-briefing and vision-casting with me, Professors Carol Chase, Chris Goodman, and Harry Caldwell, and one of my former students, Jake Glucksman, who has served as both a prosecutor and a defense counsel in Los Angeles. This session was critical in defining the parameters of the remaining work.  We closed the evening with a dinner hosted by Danny DeWalt at Dean Tacha’s house.  Danny has just joined Pepperdine’s administration and was staying at the Dean’s house while she is out of town.  As a co-professor with Bob Goff at Pepperdine Law, as a law partner to Bob Goff, as the Vice President of Restore International, and as the Honorary Counsel for Uganda for San Diego, Danny’s roots are long and deep at both Pepperdine and in Uganda.  Danny was kind enough to record the USA vs. Ghana opening World Cup match for us to watch over dinner.  Our Ugandan friends were gracious to cheer our victory, but they would have failed a lie detector test if they said they were rooting against their fellow African country.

Tuesday was a stellar day at the Ventura Courthouse – Ventura DA Greg Totten is an alumnus and always comes through for us.  He gathered a blue ribbon panel of prosecutors, judges, public defenders, investigators, and probation officers to walk us through Ventura’s approach to resolving criminal cases short of trial.  In the afternoon, the Ugandans were granted the rare privilege of sitting in a court’s chambers while the parties negotiated case resolutions right there in front of us, demonstrating that the judge can be involved in plea bargaining, and can make a material improvement on the outcome.  On the way back, we stopped at Costco for what was supposed to be a thirty-minute visit.  Two hours later, they had materially added to the Westlake Village GDP.

We were hosted on Wednesday by Melissa Mertens, a public defender at the San Fernando Courthouse where we were given a behind-the-scenes look at how to provide indigent counsel with competent representation.  This was particularly enlightening because Uganda doesn’t have a public defender system.  Each defendant charged with a capital (serious) offense is assigned a “state brief” lawyer at the last minute who is paid a pittance to represent the accused.  And from what I have personally observed, and what I have been told by numerous judges, the pittance they are paid is profoundly more than they deserve.  Uganda is currently considering a bill in parliament that would put things on the right track, but there isn’t the money set aside for such a venture.  After the public defender’s office, we got a tour of a county jail given by Melissa’s husband David, who is an LA County Sheriff.  While the jail presents a stark contrast with the prisons in Uganda, it was still not a pleasant place to be.  Next week, I will be posting pictures from inside Uganda’s maximum security prison.  They won’t be for the faint of heart.  Three of the Ugandans decided to accept the optional invitation to go on a ride along with the Sheriffs and had a dead-body, crystal meth, domestic violence riddled time.  They really enjoyed it.

Ugandan Delegation at the LA Police Department

Thursday started off at the LA PD with briefings by alumnus John Gehart and Adjunct Professor Steve Lurie, both of whom are police officers and lawyers.  There was some good discussion about relationships between police and prosecutors in both countries and what sort of evidence is turned over at what stages.  As you might imagine, we turn over much more, much earlier than in Uganda, which is how the parties can make informed decisions about whether to plea bargain a case.  The afternoon was spent hammering out the final edits to the Practice Direction that is about to be issued to all attorneys in Uganda that will govern plea bargaining.  Next week’s project that about twenty-five of us from Pepperdine will be involved in will be the final test run before full launch.  Thursday evening closed with a wonderful dinner hosted by Chris and Mark, and Alex Goodman, all three of which will be joining me in Uganda later this week.

Friday was a day of shopping, and boy can they shop.  Costco again, Camarillo Outlets, and Walmart had good days.  On Saturday, Danny DeWalt took them to Hollywood for a two-hour bus tour before meeting up with me (and their luggage) at LAX.

The next two weeks have the potential to go really well.  There are milestones and a court decision that may bring a fresh start to a new chapter and may close the book on an emotional journey.  Or they may inject further delay into a strung-out system and may send a few of us back to the edge of despair.

Whatever happens, I promise it won’t be boring or uneventful.  So check back here daily to ride the roller coaster with our team of 14 students, ten lawyers, and five filmmakers as we try to capture the story of the partnership between Pepperdine and Ugandan Judiciary that is unfolding and unfurling before us, behind us, and inside us.

We covet your prayers these next two weeks.