National Jurist - October 2007 - (Page 16) was promoted to her current position just two years after being hired. She now also serves as head of the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program. As part of her job, Koches prosecutes cases from investigation all the way to post-trial, and says she’s in court most days. “The first thing we do is talk with the investigating officers and formulate a plan of attack,” she said. She works with law enforcement officers to gather evidence — getting phone records, administering polygraph tests, or using wire surveillance, for example. “Once we have enough evidence to proceed, we meet with the victim and [handle] the trial.” Koches also responds to pretrial motions and meets with victims and witnesses ahead of time to prepare them for “When I graduated, I wanted to look for a position that would challenge me and was interesting.” — Lyndsey Koches explain what’s going on and file charges,” she said. “I go to the preliminary hearing, and assuming the charges come up, I will trial. Experienced with jury trials, Koches conducts voir dire on potential jurors to “get a good feel for people on the panel and make sure you have an impartial jury,” she said. She says a lot of the job is thinking on your feet. She only had 45 minutes to prepare for her very first jury trial. Time in general is a precious commodity on the job, and lack of time is one of the greatest challenges Koches faces. “This is certainly not a nine-to-five job,” she said. “We are actually on call at night and on the weekends. I could have a police officer call me at 3 AM with a question — that’s happened before.” Koches often works 70-hour weeks, yet sometimes still feels like she needs to do more. But the emotional payoff makes it worthwhile. Recently, Koches successfully prosecuted a criminal defendant for vehicular homicide, after the defendant — driving under the influence of cocaine — struck an elderly man who was crossing the street, dragged the victim with his car, and then left him for dead. After a guilty plea, Koches argued at the man’s sentencing hearing and got the chance to elicit testimony from the victim’s wife, who had witnessed her husband’s killing. Koches can’t imagine doing anything but prosecution with her law degree. “I don’t have a typical day; every day is different,” she said. “I have friends who will email and say, ‘I just did this deposition,’ and I write back and say, ‘I just [prosecuted] this homicide by vehicle.’ You’re not going to get that experience anywhere else.” GRADUATE TAX PROGRAM Pioneering Excellence M M LL.M. in Taxation: superb one-year tax training for lawyers Excellent job placement throughout the U.S. and in government Financial aid available to all qualified applicants New state-of-the-art building Enjoy school in one of the most livable places in the U.S.! M M M 800-426-8802 denver.indd 1 www.tax.du.edu 16 THE NATIONAL JURIST October 2007 8/23/06 12:47:56 PM Is is boom time for grads with JD-MBA degrees? Watch a video on employment opportunities and advice. Go to www.NJPLonline.com. www.NJPLonline.com Click on Careers. http://www.tax.du.edu http://www.NJPLonline.com http://www.tax.du.edu
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.