A PI/process server shares some hard-won wisdom about what can go wrong — and right — when you’re learning criminal defense work.
2020 was the year I finally caught the bug — and no, it wasn’t COVID.
In July 2020, I attended the wonderful live webinar “Criminal Defense Investigations: A Primer on Why and How,” by PI Education‘s Hal Humphreys. And like that, I was hooked. I knew this was something I wanted to do.
I’m not sure that anyone would have accused me of being a “bleeding heart” when I was younger. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to see the criminal justice system as imperfect at best. I don’t believe that most criminal defendants are innocent, but excellent media investigations over the years have certainly shown that the system makes mistakes — some due to honest human error, and others … sadly, not. I’m hoping that my work can expose injustice, right wrongs, and may even make a big difference in a few people’s lives.
As for last year’s “aha moment”: I had been a licensed PI for nearly ten years and spent most of my time on the “basics” — service of process, skip tracing, and background checks. The COVID upheaval taught me that it wasn’t a good idea to put all my eggs in one investigative “basket,” and I felt that criminal defense investigation was a good fit for my work portfolio. As a process server I was already used to working in the field, meeting all kinds of different people, talking to them, and trying to sort out sometimes conflicting stories. I was also well versed in skip tracing and court research.
I let my current clients know that I was now taking on criminal defense cases and worked my first ones in 2021. I had cases involving criminal sexual abuse of a minor, armed violence, and aggravated domestic battery. I worked a lot, learned a lot, and made a bunch of mistakes. But I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
For all of you aspiring or “baby” defense investigators out there, I’m sharing some pro tips I wish I’d received during my first year. I hope they can shorten your learning curve and allow you to become a better defense investigator more quickly.
Read the police report carefully.
Better yet, read it multiple times carefully. And read it with healthy skepticism. If something in the report doesn’t make sense, zoom in on those inconsistencies. Highlight and follow up to get more information.
Know the law.
Check your state statutes and carefully read the elements that comprise the crime(s). Don’t be surprised if all the necessary elements of the crime the defendant has been charged with aren’t in the police report.
Listen carefully to the witnesses.
Don’t assume what they said in the police report will be what they’ll tell you now. Do the facts of their story line up with other things you’ve learned from other evidence or testimony?
Let the witnesses talk. Let the inconsistencies, if they exist, come out with the stories. Note them. Follow up.
Investigate the witnesses.
What are they saying on social media? Do they have a criminal record? Will they be credible and convincing in court?
Don’t assume you’re going to find the witness using their birth name.
In some neighborhoods, asking for Michael J. Smith will get you nothing but blank looks. Ask for “Peanut,” and everyone knows the guy. You’ll be surprised how many people have lived next to someone for years and never knew their real name.
Be persistent.
Victims and witnesses aren’t dying to see you. Expect to visit their homes multiple times before you get that interview. Leave them voicemails; send them texts. Sometimes they just become so sick of you that they give in.
Know your “guys.”
I know that everyone says it’s better to “be the guy than to know the guy,” but that’s just not possible with private investigators. We’re like doctors: we have specialties and can’t possibly be experts in every field. So you’ll need find your experts and get to know them so you can lean on them when the need arises.
Need an autopsy report reviewed? Talk to Dean Beers in Colorado. Need a canine drug search video checked out? Call Sam Petitto. Public records deep dive? Definitely Brian Willingham. Cell phone forensics? Ballistics expert? You get the point.
Bring backup equipment.
I can guarantee that sometimes your stuff won’t work when you want it to. Camera batteries will die when least expected, interview recording apps will glitch out. Be sure to have backup systems in place for when Murphy’s Law rules the day.
Roll with it.
The most important thing for baby defense investigators to remember? Just take it day by day. There are a lot of ups and downs with this work. It’s important to be resilient and stay positive. Some days you’ll feel a like a hero, and other days, like the goat. Somewhere, sometime, you’ll end up making a big difference in someone’s life.
Some days you’ll feel a like a hero, and other days, like the goat. Somewhere, sometime, you’ll end up making a big difference in someone’s life.
I’m fortunate enough to have already had one of those moments. I recently worked an assault case on behalf of the defendant. He and his girlfriend were arguing about money by phone. He then drove to her house, punched out the storm door glass, broke down the front door, and forced his way inside. She reported that he choked her, broke numerous items in the house, and choked her again on the way out.
Police photos from the scene show copious amounts of blood on the door frame, but pictures of the victim show no blood on her neck, let alone any significant signs of trauma to her neck. I found that odd.
My client, the boyfriend, was facing one charge of destruction of property, two assault charges, and one “enhanced” assault charge for assaulting a pregnant woman.
By the time I interviewed the victim, two years after the incident, everyone had cooled down. Right away she admitted to me that the original argument hadn’t actually been about money. The fight, via phone calls and texts, was about his cheating. The boyfriend then made the lousy decision to go to her house and continue the argument in person. That’s when he started breaking things. But he never touched her, she told me.
I wanted to know why she had made up the assault story. She admitted that she was high as a kite and wanted to see him go to jail. Later, after things had calmed down, she called the police to say that the choking story wasn’t true. The police officer she spoke with said they weren’t going to change the police report because “it had already been filed.” If she insisted on changing her story, they would charge her with filing a false police report.
During our interview, she was remorseful. George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement had happened. And that had her thinking, here she was, a Black woman putting a Black man in danger by lying about a crime. Just because she was mad at him. That didn’t sit well with her. She wanted to make things right.
This case is ongoing. But at the very least, three of the four charges against my client got called into serious question when the witness told me the truth. If all goes as it should, he’ll most likely pay for the stupid things he actually did instead of defending himself against false testimony. In the meantime, the court granted us a three-month continuance, as the attorney put it, “for the prosecution to speak with the complaining witnesses and to account for the Brady materials implicated by their interview with you.”
There’s no clear conclusion yet. But it felt good to have some hand in finding out what really happened — and maybe, helping a client get a fair and proper outcome.
The story above is just one example of why I do this work. Because sometimes, the truth wants to come out — it just needs a little help.
About the author:
Jacob Osojnak is a licensed private detective in Illinois and Michigan. He graduated from Michigan State University and has been an investigator since 2001. He holds Illinois and Utah concealed carry licenses and is a NRA certified Range Safety Officer. He is the current vice president of the Associated Detectives & Security Agencies of Illinois. Jacob has written articles on concealed carry law for the Illinois Association of Professional Process Servers (ILAPPS) and on service of process for Pursuit Magazine. He is also creator of a continuing education class on service of process for PI Education.