Nancy Black

I was fortunate enough to have Nancy assigned as my counsel by the Salt Lake County LDA's office. From the start, she listened to my side of the story and asked what I wanted to do. I wanted to take it to trial. So, she asked the hard questions and we formulated a strategy for trial. She even brought... in a colleague, Amy, and I have a nice legal team advocating for me. This was a scary time for me, being on trial for felony DUI. It was rough too, as I was truly confused about getting a DUI without the D. My legal team did very well too. I honestly felt they did the best they could. And despite being found guilty, the look of sadness from Nacy when the verdict came in was real. She told me "Sorry, we really should have won." She was still there for me though, and she gave me excellent advice going into the Pre Sentence Report with AP&P. So, I despite feeling I got a bad rap in all this, I owned the responsibility of it, was really honest with the interviewer, and the PSR came back extremely objective and fair. The judge must have thought so as well, as at sentencing I got 63 days time served with the rest of the 4 yrs and 9 months suspended. I've maintained this attitude even since then, and it's done wonders for my relationship with my PO. I actually feel like my PO is doing what the system designed this for and he is my goto now. I have issues making a payment, I call him. I let home know what's up, and he has helped with my DCFS case even. I slipped up and knew I was dirty for a UA, so I came clean to him from the start. Instead of violating me, he called my caseworker from DCFS and explained why he thought she should overlook it too. But it all goes back to Nancy, as she instructed me on this as well, told me not to fight probation, and to always maintain open communication with them. Where some friends of mine are so afraid of AP&P, like if they miss a check-in or something so they start avoiding them etc. Anyways, Nancy fought the good fight, and despite us losing she still did the best thing for me. I felt she did all she could, and we lost. But, having felt advocated for I didn't feel as bitter with the system, and it's given me the strength to face this like a man and with dignity. I am getting my life back on track and anticipate terminating probation very soon. Don't ever change Nancy. You are awesome ;)