frontline: real justice: video excerpt

38-year old court appointed defense attorney Lisa Medeiros juggles a dozen cases a day. This is about one of them--a man charged with trespassing and larceny on a university campus in Boston. The accused has at least four times failed to appear for trial so the judge is forced to require a $500 bond before release-which the man is too poor to pay. So defense attorney Medeiros is trying to make the man understand that either he'll have to sit 28 days in jail awaiting a trial or, he can plead guilty and try to get probation. In his earlier appearance before the judge, the man had refused a plea.

(You'll need RealPlayer G2 to watch this clip).