Joan A. Lenard

Dear Judge Joan Lenard: With all due respect, I would like to send you a letter by email. This is my email address: talaromero@hotmail.com It's about a case that you had, regarding my mother. Thank you, and have a nice day!

This judge is two different people. She is the nicest person in the world out of court but a shill for the government in court. She is openly distrustful of defense lawyers and is reputed to have said as much during a speech she gave early in her career as a judge. Judge Lenard is fundamentally a nice person so her sentencing decison making is much fairer than her general performance which could not be worse. Several other lawyers and AFDs have told me that they refuse to take cases in her division because the atmosphere in her courtroom is so intolerable and she is so unfair.

She is a former state prosecutor who is wildly pro-government. She is not particularly bright. She is aware of that. Given her pro-government bias, and her lack of intelligence, she tends to side with the government whenever they make an evidentiary objection. I've seen instances where she has sustained a government objection on an issue, then overruled the same objection when it came from the defense. She can be very nasty and very biased. In one very long trial recently, she bent over backwards to strike potential jurors whom she perceived to be prodefense (i.e., black). Not surprisingly, the government loves her. In the interest of fairness, I readily admit that she can be a pretty good sentencer if your client has pled.

First time I've seen a judge to uphold only one defense objection in a trial that lasted six months.

very fair, tries to do the right thing. pleasure to be in front of.

very open to good arguments