Didn't know it at the time,but the day I met Mark Raimondo would turn out to be one of the luckiest days of my life.Mark was doing some work on his home you see, and I am a carpenter/plumber/electrician. A friend of mine was doing some tile work for Mark and I was giving him a hand. Mark is a great ...guy and we became quick buddies. Due to a brain injury,I am disabled, Mark looked passed that and put me to work on various jobs and was patient and understanding beyond belief. For the next few years I had the opportunity to work for Mark whenever he had some sort of leak,or odd job. Mark always paid me more than I'm worth so I was always happy to work for him. If I was working late,he put me up in one of his spare rooms and treated me more like a guest than someone who was doing work on his home. What I'm trying to say,really,is just what a decent human Mark really is. A couple of years passed without seeing Mark,and I found myself in some serious trouble with the law. Being a disabled veteran,living on a fixed income,I was unable to afford a lawyer.A public defender was appointed to my case.Long story short,I was looking at four years in prison,along with a strike. My public defender told me there was nothing she could do for me so I was going to have to take the four years,but she would try to stop the strike,but no promises. While waiting for her to take the prison time,I went down to have a smoke and try to hide my tears. Being a former Army Ranger,I try not to cry much in public. But I was one depressed S.O.B. I can tell you that.About that time I looked up and low and behold,there was Mark, We shook hands and he told me he had got married and he showed me pictures of his beautiful bride and their wedding in Hawaii,.Mark then asked me what I was doing at the courthouse,and I explained my sad story.He asked me who my lawyer was and I gave him the name of my public defender. Mark knew her and told me she was a very good lawyer. then he looked down at the ground for a moment,and when he looked back at me he said "Dennis,I'm going in to get a cup of coffee in the coffee shop downstairs of the courthouse,you finish smoking your cigarette,and when your through,come downstairs and get me, and we'll go to court".Well I thanked him and told him I would,not really expecting all that much ,and went back to my feeling sorry for myself. When I was done smokin,I did as Mark told me and met him in the coffee shop.He put his arm around me and finished the conversation he was having,then we walked upstairs where my lawyer was about to accept the four year prison term she could do nothing to avoid. Mark walked in to the courtroom and told me to have a seat out front. I was a nervous wreck,and kept trying to look through the windows, Mark saw me and waved me away from the window. So I sat back down for what seemed like an eternity,but in reality was less than an hour.When Mark came out,I stood and walked toward him,he waved me back to my seat and walked on out the door. I thought ,oh well, thanx anyway. Not ten minutes later,my public defender walkes out smiling ear to ear and says '' I didn't know you knew Mark Raimondo, '' then she says ''how does probation sound?'' It's probably a good thing Mark had left the way he did because if I could have found him I would have kissed him square on his lips!!! Mark never asked for a thing in return,although he has a free plumber for as long as I draw breath.Mark has kept me out of jail a couple more times since then for minor traffic stuff. And all as I guess they say, pro bono,not sure if thats the term, but what I mean to say,he never asked for a dime. Mark is a wonderful man, and an even better lawyer. He truly cares about people, and he proved that to me once again when a neighbor of mine,a beautiful young mother,suffering from severe postpartum depression,stabbed her newborn baby. When I heard about the police at her home, I went strait to Marks house. When I explained to him what had occurred,M