Intellectual Property Law

Questions for lawyers?

Hi, everyone. This Q directly goes to people who are lawyers or lawyers-to-be. Before I ask, I want to make clear that by no means, I hold grudge or hatred against lawyers by asking these Qs. In fact, I know there are many great lawyers in our society who work not for money but rather to help disadvantaged people defend themselves and contribute to this society. I have nothing but the greatest respect for lawyers like Richard Bernstein who is blind personal injury lawyer and works on promoting equality and helping disadvantaged, handicapped people despite his own tremendous handicaps. As for my Qs, as a person who loves watching CourtTV and "Law and Order", I always had hard time understanding about certain facets of criminal attorneys. I have hard time understanding why certain lawyers would even think about defending murderers, rapists, arsonists, corrupt CEOs, who have done great disservce to society and brought tremendous pains to many people. If I were a lawyer, I would never even consider defending them no matter how much money I am offered for defending them. Just looking at what kind of crimes they have inflicted on other people, I wonder why certain lawyers make decision to go defend them in criminal trials. My Qs for you guys is two-fold. 1. Do lawyers defend all those criminals who have committed heinous acts toward society because they believe they are wrongly accused or because of money? Why would any lawyer defend people like Scott Peterson, Timothy McVeigh, etc.? Do lawyers defending them truly believe they are innocent or even have some sympathy toward them? 2. I know Court assigns public defender to defedants who can't afford attorney. How much difference has it made? Did it help in finding defendants who were wrongly accused of crimes? Thanks in advance for any insights.

Public Comments

1. defense attorneys normally justify their participation in criminal defense by referencing the constitution. every person is innocent until proven guilty in our country and has a right to a fair and unprejudiced trial. it is also the case that many lawyers believe that people who do bad things and are up against a trial deserve to have at least one confidant to walk them through the process. one person they can trust completely. public defenders make a great difference. they are horribly overworked and underpaid. I am not aware of specific cases where a pd got the charges dropped for someone wrongly accused, but i am positive it has happened thousands of times. more importantly, the defendant who is wrongly accused gets the benefit of an attorney who most often is in the profession for the satisfaction of upholding our legal system and providing a good defense to those who cannot afford their own legal assistance and not an attorney just working for the money.
2. The answer to your questions are simple: First: Lawyers provide a criminal defense for a number of reasons. Professionally, every person accused of a crime is entitled to the presumption, before the close of evidence, of innocence. The next point is that every person accused of a crime is entitled to a zealous defense, whether it is in the guilt phase, or the punishment phase. At each step of the criminal prosecution, a defense attorney is supposed to assure that the prosecution proves each and every element of the crime(s) charged with evidence beyond and to the exclusion of any doubt. The next point is that every person who is accused of a crime is entitled to have his or her constitutional rights protected and enforced. Thus a law that for instance prohibits the congregation of people at a street corner and imposes criminal punishment may be unconstitutional. The First Amendment guarantees the right of people to peaceably assemble. Hence an accused might be guilty of the crime, but the constitution prohibits the making of laws that declare that specific crime. Anotehr point is that lawyers need to eat, pay bills, etc. Defending criminals is a way of making a living and someone has to do it. The vast majority of defense attorneys are typically capable of professionally representing clients and earning a fee. A free society depends on those who are willing, and courageous enough, to defend those accused of crimes. Second, with respect to public defenders. I believe they do make a difference. Sometimes public defenders are lucky enough to find the exculpatory evidence the state failed to deliver. But the criminal justice system also depends heavily upon the integrity of both the prosecution and the defense. When they do their jobs correctly, and abide by the rules, justice is typically served. But yes, despite all of the constitutional protections, and all of the evidentiary rules, and the best efforts of those in the syste, there will always be some wrongful convictions. In the case of Nifong and the LaCrosse team, that was inappropriate and Nifong was disbarred for it. He may face worse. Don't hate criminal defense lawyers though, they try to defend their clients. But .... don't get me started on mob lawyers! Just kidding.
3. Simple honor among thieves. Lawyers are legalized criminals themselves.