Why They Do It

Over the weekend a couple of bloggers tackled the question of why they defend accused criminals.

Caminiqua and Davious: Why I Do What I Do:

I told an acquaintance today what I do for a living. He responding by crossing his two index fingers together in the form of an “X” and said, “You’re one of those bad guys.” When he asked how I can do what I do, I shared not-so-uncommon scenario:

A police officer found a baggie of marijuana under his police car after detaining three young subjects. All three denied ownership. One had a warrant for his arrest, so he was cuffed. The second admitted to the officer that he was involved in the assault of a lady months earlier for which he had never been connected to previously. The third had no criminal record. The second said he can’t afford to get into trouble anymore and blamed the pot on the third. So the officer says to the second guy, “if you are willing to write a statement saying it belonged to the third guy, I’ll just let you go and won’t get you in trouble for the assault you just admitted to.” The second guy couldn’t find a pen fast enough.

Now tell me I’m the bad guy when police officers go to these extents to buy testimony against people. These kinds of things really happen.

Excerpt from The Defender: Defending Scumbags:

After telling a friend about my experience representing someone accused of possessing and photographing child pornography, my friend asked me how I could defend “scumbags” such as this who are contemptible and revolting to most people.

I told him his was a very good question which is difficult to answer adequately without composing a constitutional, philosophical and spiritual dissertation, but here are my thoughts stated as succinctly as I can.