Silence!

My Darrell,
I am sorry. I am saddened and embarrassed that I built
up your confidence and faith in me that I would properly handle your
case in court and then I completely failed to do that at all.
You
handled yourself quite well in spite of being in an uncomfortable place
and in an unfamiliar setting, and there is nothing to feel badly for.
I
should have listened more openly to what you were telling me about
pleading guilty and avoiding the trail instead of being stubborn, and
you would probably have asked for a lawyer had I kept my mouth shut
also. It is not that you didn't have a good case with a very good shot
at winning, but it failed because you needed the extra help that I
could not provide.
We can learn from this lesson. I did not do any
better or any differently when I plead not guilty and went to court and
lost 20 years ago, but for some reason, the officer never stopped me
again. We can only hope that that we have shown them our willingness to
stand up for ourselves, and that they have learned from us as well.
Life
is not a series of failures, it's just a series of attempts at
successes. Sometimes we trip, but we try again and we always end up
successful in the long run.
I love you son, your proud Dad.
(written
to my boy after the Judge told me I couldn't practice law in his court,
and stopped him mid-sentence when he attempted to ask the officer a
question)