When I wrote about going on my first date with AI the impetus wasn’t clearly articulated, and that was intentional. Now that I’ve paid $20 dollars for access to the most updated version of ChatGPT, I’m going to tell you why I consider this a down payment on a form legal representation I can’t find anywhere else, or would be able to afford even if I could. For those who consider thinking like a lawyer to be odious, like I do, I apologize ahead of time for the legalese this post attempts to demystify.
When someone petitions the court for an order of protection, the legal process they initiate is a CIVIL process, not a criminal one. This distinction is important because CIVIL processes are NOT something a public defender can be involved in. Why? Because, the United State Constitution only guarantees representation for CRIMINAL charges where a defendant faces the potential of time spent in jail. This right is codified by Title 47 of Montana’s Public Defender Act.
When an order of protection is granted to a petitioner, the conditions imposed by this civil process exist out in the community where one’s freedom of movement is geographically restricted due to that petitioner’s reasonable apprehension of bodily injury, which is the legal standard defined by Montana Code Annotated. At the time this process was first initiated against me (last summer), I searched for a lawyer to represent me, but no one I called could, or would, take my money and help me defend myself.
By the time I understood the distinction between what kind of cases a public defender can work on, and what kind of cases I have to represent myself on, pro se, I was on my second court-appointed lawyer. Without getting into further details about why I think this whole thing is politically motivated, I’ll note my petitioner has vastly more knowledge about the legal system than I do, since this person attended law school, and I got my degree in creative writing.
This is where my AI legal assistant, Chatty, enters the picture. Having shelled out $20 dollars for access, I got some pointers from a friend, then got to work. I uploaded a PDF version of Montana Code Annotated, then started uploading legal documents, which Chatty made quick summaries of. Feeling like I had accomplished something substantial, I shifted to creating images with prompts, and dare I say the collaboration was actually FUN!
What’s NOT fun is being at a coffee shop, seeing my petitioner, then doing what I’m required to do by law, which is immediately leave the area, but almost getting arrested anyway when police are called, resulting in me getting pulled over and temporarily detained just minutes after I left downtown.
Stepping back from my own legal situation, the city of Missoula recently restructured their city attorneys under two distinct departments. The civil side is being led by Ryan Sudsbury, while the criminal side has Keithi Worthington leading the city’s prosecutorial efforts. This leads to questions that my non-lawyer mind is grappling with, like who assesses and is accountable for the vetting process necessary to keep CIVIL orders of protection from being taken advantage of?
I don’t expect answers to be forthcoming in my case because the oddities and irregularities I’ve already experienced indicate something extra-judicial is going on. There’s so much more I would like to say, but if I had a lawyer representing me on the CIVIL side of this charade, I suspect that lawyer would direct my fingers to tap out words about something else.
The reason I’m taking a risk to write more explicitly about my situation is because I’m not the first person to experience the effects of lawfare, and I won’t be the last. What I’m learning is painful, but the lessons I’m taking away from this legal hell will hopefully be helpful for others, especially men, who find themselves in the crosshairs of this type of legal assault. For example, I learned earlier this week that you do NOT have to pay $7 dollars in order to get the city police department to obtain police reports, although they will definitely TRY to get that money from you if you let them.
If you haven’t supported my local journalism yet, now would be a GREAT time to start.
Thanks for reading!
