Local public defenders often represent students who are charged with alcohol related charges. Sometimes, out-of-town guests seek a public defender after getting charged while in Athens for Halloween.
Paul Trinh and his colleagues simultaneously could be representing about 150 clients as a public defender, with a small percentage of those being college students.
For many students who can't afford a lawyer, they turn to Trinh to represent them in court.
Trinh, who works at the Athens County branch of the Ohio Public Defender's Office, experiences students who are worried about losing scholarships, suspension or even expulsion from school because of their misdemeanor charges. He leads them through each step of the case, trying to get the best deal from the judge.
“A lot of times it’s the first time a student has gotten in any trouble and they don’t know what’s going on, so I’ll explain to them what’s going on,” Trinh said.
Sometimes Trinh has to speak to students about their cases in telephone conferences because the student may have been visiting Athens for Halloween or another event, he said.
“That’s probably a majority of the students we get, students visiting their friends,” •Trinh said.
Trinh is currently representing students from the University of Akron, the University of Dayton, the University of Cincinnati, Kent State University and Wright State University.
One of the students he represents lives near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. That student is facing assault charges, and Trinh said it’s been difficult to communicate because they are in school, but he’s worked with the judge to more easily manage the process.
“The judge allowed us to set the jury trial date at the end of May, after she’s out (of school),” Trinh said.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="f2f296bc-05ed-11e6-b28b-9b43829c4cb7"}}
Another concern Trinh often encounters is whether a student will be suspended due to the charges. He said he had one student who was charged with obstructing official business, but had a criminal trespass charge from the past which caused him to be suspended from OU.
“Our biggest concern was him getting suspended again because he was so close to graduation,” Trinh said.
Sometimes, Trinh said, the best thing to happen for a student is when they are offered diversion, a process where the judge allows the record to be erased and sealed if the student completes community service hours and a few other qualifications set by the judge.
“Being able to get your record sealed, seeing as everyone is going to be looking for jobs eventually, that seems to calm a lot of students down,” Trinh said.
Diversion is offered to a lot of first-time offenders, Trinh added, such as for crimes like underage consumption or petty theft.
Most students are charged with misdemeanors for underage consumption, false IDs, obstructing official business and OVIs, Trinh said.
Those underage consumption charges usually result in behavior caused by the alcohol intake, Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said.
“They use the bathroom on someone's door or they punch somebody all because they’ve been consuming (alcohol),” Pyle said.
Fake IDs linked to alcohol consumption and someone of legal age purchasing alcohol for a minor could also lead to students being charged with misdemeanors, and possibly assigned a public defender, Pyle said.
Pam Walton, clerk at the Athens County Municipal Court, said she sees public defenders on a daily basis, but students who might need one need to pay a $25 fee to apply.
“Basically it’s filling out the form that is state-approved and there are guidelines the judge has to go by when looking at that form,” Walton said.
Not all applications are accepted, Walton added.
Minor misdemeanor cases, like possession of marijuana, do not qualify for public defenders, she said.
OU students are already enrolled to get assistance from the Center for Student Legal Services, but if a student waives the $12 fee they may have to apply for a public defender.
“We do have (students) from time to time,” Walton said.
@Fair3Julia
Jf311013@ohio.edu
