20 Apr
2006
20 Apr
'06
2:34 a.m.
At 11:34 PM 4/19/06 -0500, you wrote:
Chuck Guzis wrote:
That's a nice cop-out! It makes me sick to hear that shit! When have
they ever thought of the victums rights??? Or the rights of the witneses
that they continualy abuse on the stand?
Joe
Murdered or not, everyone is entitled to the same
On 4/19/2006 at 9:23 PM Jim Leonard wrote:
I must have the wrong background, then. My father-in-law is a public
defender and I know he doesn't make much defending murder suspects, etc.
I asked him once how he felt about defending people whom, in his mind,
must be guilty; he responded by saying that it didn't matter what he
felt: His job was to make sure that his client's rights under the law
were upheld. I'm usually a very optimistic, upbeat,
glass-half-full kind of guy, but
-- even though it probably happens all the time -- doesn't this seem a
tad bit wrong?
You don't understand the basic premise of our legal profession. It doesn't
make terribly much difference whether the case is won or lost--the name of
the game is billable hours. interpretation and application of law and justice. He
then surprised me
by saying that not every case even tries to get the suspect free
(sometimes they've confessed, or insurmountable evidence, etc.) --
again, only to make sure the client's rights are honored.
(BTW, before you slam public defenders (as in "30 years and he's still a
public defender??"), my father-in-law became a lawyer for the first time
at age 59 -- he wanted to change careers before he retired (used to make
six figured in office-building real estate management).)
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
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