Interview with Greg Cattermole
Prepared by Stephen Wandro
Last Sunday which was the third of May, 2010, my partner and I interviewed Greg Cattermole about the criminal justice system in relation to the legal system. Mr.Cattermole is an Attorney at Law at Law Offices of Carcione, Cattermole, Dolinski, Okimoto, Stucky, Ukshini, Markowitz & Carcione in Redwood City. We met him at his office around noon and he was the only person there as he was preparing for a case. His expertise in the legal system was very informative and gave us a good idea of its inner workings from his inside view. He gave us a realistic view on the legal system from his own experiences that were very helpful in building our understanding. Our topic concerned the effects of economic status on representation in the criminal justice system, and he was able to give his personal experiences on how big a role economics played in determining the outcome of a case or on representation in a court.Mr. Cattermole was very welcoming and friendly towards us and enthusiastic about the prospect of being interviewed. He tried his best to answer each of our questions and to come up with specific examples of any cases he had worked on that related to our topic, which unfortunately did not come up often because his area of expertise was not exactly the same as our project. Mr. Cattermole was very respectful towards us and we attempted to act the same towards him. He took the time to explain the legal processes he was talking about, as he understood that we did not have the depth of knowledge in the legal system as he did.
Overall Mr. Cattermole was extremely helpful and as a result the interview went very smoothly.
We asked Mr. Cattermole may questions about how money affects representation in court, and not surprisingly, he admitted that a person with more money is more able to get a good lawyer to defend them in a criminal court. When we asked him about the biases of juries, he told us that there is no way for juries to completely separate themselves from their biases, and that ultimately a person’s decision is influenced by those biases. When we asked him about the quality of lawyers, and how that affects the outcome of a case that is supposed to be based on facts, he admitted that a good lawyer is able to work the system in a way that benefits the defendant as much as possible, and therefore money can buy better treatment in the legal system. I was impressed that he was able to admit to all of these flaws in the legal system when it is his profession and I appreciated his honesty with us regarding his work.
Mr. Cattermole, despite admitting to all of these flaws in the legal system, surprised us with his optimistic outlook. From his personal experience in San Mateo, he told us of a number of programs that work to provide representation to those who cannot afford it, and that many of the lawyers they provide are skilled and effective. He spoke highly of the systems in place in San Mateo county that work to provide equal representation to all. He expressed the view that although money is a factor in many court cases, this effect has been quite minimal in his experience, which he admits is probably not the case for other counties. While he admitted that juries are influenced by their biases, he told us that he has been continuously impressed by many juries in how fair and reasonable they have been towards defendants. His opinion is that the jury system is the most important and impressive aspect of the legal system, and that although it is not perfect, juries are often very fair in their treatment of defendants. These views were somewhat of a surprise to my partner and me. We had been researching human rights violations in the legal system, and many of the stories had come from other areas of the Unites States, and we did not expect the situation in San Mateo county to be so positive (according to Mr. Cattermole’s view), which was a pleasant surprise.
After the interview, my partner and I were satisfied that all of our questions had been answered thoroughly. Mr. Cattermole had given us a very positive perspective on the legal system from his experience. While many of the problems of economic status affecting treatment existed, he informed us that in his experience, these problems were minimal in San Mateo County. We had just come from several months of researching the problems in the criminal justice system in depth, and we had lost sight of all of its positive aspects. Mr. Cattermole reminded us that our goal is not to attack the system, because a great deal of good comes from the system. Our goal is to expose the specific flaws in the system that lead to human rights violations. The honest and positive view that Mr. Cattermole gave us from inside the legal system was incredibly informative and refocused our goals, allowing us to back up and see the big picture instead of only viewing the flaws.
