The NY Daily News reports on a defense attorney whose thuggish client beat a guy to death. The defense attorney raises the claim that his client was attacked by the guy and that the guy was drunk, and that his client did not commit the injuries that caused the guy's death. People are outraged.
Folks, this is the job of a defense attorney. He's supposed to raise a defense, no matter how ludicrous. If not, the case gets thrown out as a mistrial upon appeal and we get to do the whole damned thing all over again. Now, what if your client is a total dick and there are a half dozen witnesses against him? Well, you do like this defense attorney is doing. You raise a ridiculous defense, make sure your client shows up in court looking like a total thug instead of all cleaned up, the jury giggles at your ridiculous defense and finds your client guilty with about 30 minutes total of deliberation most of which is spent chatting and finishing up the snacks in the jury room, and justice is served.
So don't blame the lawyer here. He's just doing his job of offering a defense. In the U.S. system, if he doesn't offer a defense, the perp goes free. That's just how it works. Now, in this case he doesn't have a helluva lot to work with, so his defense is, well, ridiculous. But it's the job of the judge and jury to laugh and find the perp guilty anyhow, not the defense attorney's job. The defense attorney's job is to offer what little defense he can of the indefensible, no matter how lame that defense may be.
-- Badtux the Law Penguin
You have documented a Parable For Our Time. Palin mocked Obama for wanting to read terrorists their rights. (He doesn't, but never mind.) For the sake of liberty, this is just how we, the heirs of the Founders, do things, even if it's sometimes risky or looks like Kabuki. This is what administration torture fans and the right Just Don't Get.
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