Sometimes the system doesn't work . . .

After one small victory for common sense, it was on to federal court. Now, this is the client who kept wondering who was looking for him. We'd called the U.S. Marshalls and Fugitive Apprehension--nothing.
Anyway, turns out there's a secret federal indictment for felon in possession. The AUSA's a good guy, tough but fair. After hearing our attempts to surrender, he agreed to not seek pre-trial detention if we could surrender by Thursday.
Now, what many people forget is that people charged with crimes (that they may or may not have committed) nonetheless have lives. Businesses to run, jobs to go to, kids to look after, a birthday, a game they don't want to miss, etc. So, it is sometimes more practical to hang out a few extra days before going in to surrender.
My client really wanted to wait until Monday, but if he waited until Monday then the US would move for pre-trial detention and the police, FBI, CIA, and mod squad would keep looking for him. I talked him into surrendering on Thursday since the US wouldn't move for detention.
He surrendered, the US didn't move for pre-trial detention but the Court on its own motion decided it needed more info before deciding whether to detain him or release him on bond.
I know, there's some bassackward stuff going on. The judge doesn't know whether to detain him or not, so instead of letting him stay out until the decision is made, he gets locked up.
So . . . the client who does the right thing and surrenders on Thursday will now stay locked up until the detention hearing next Tuesday.
So, the prosecutor and defense attorney think he should be released, the client does the right thing and . . . gets screwed.
Sometimes the Courts don't understand that a little common sense and reasonableness goes a long way. My credibility with my client is damaged. My assurance that the AUSA is acting righteous is damaged. No wonder the public doesn't trust the system. They shouldn't.
I probably won't be so encouraging about doing the right thing with the next client.