{"id":43239,"date":"2014-06-24T10:05:59","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T16:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/24\/defense-attorneys-defend-thats-their-job.html"},"modified":"2014-06-26T07:02:14","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T13:02:14","slug":"defense-attorneys-defend-thats-their-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/24\/defense-attorneys-defend-thats-their-job.html","title":{"rendered":"Defense attorneys DEFEND. That's their job"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is the nature of our criminal justice system that attorneys for the defense are meant — indeed, are obligated<\/i> by the canons of their profession — to defend in any legal fashion possible. Whether they think their client is a wrongfully accused saint or the worst scum ever to walk the earth, their job is to do whatever they can to combat the immense power of the state (the police and the DA's office) by scrambling for any reasonable doubt they can instill.<\/p>\n

That's why no less a luminary than John Adams could make (though he feared it would break) his reputation defending the British soldiers accused of the Boston Massacre. The principle of presumption of innocence until the state has made its case, and the right of any accused to the best defense possible, are the foundation of our justice system.<\/p>\n

That sometimes means mounting a vigorous defense for someone you know is an awful person, someone who is, in fact, guilty of the crime. But a lawyer can no more ethically fail to do their best in such a case than a doctor can ethically fail to do their best in saving the life of an awful person.<\/p>\n

Which is why, as the article notes, attacks on former defenders for actually doing their job<\/i> are not only wrong, but dangerous.\ufeff<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

Why It\u2019s Wrong to Make a Defense Attorney\u2019s Career a Partisan Issue<\/a>
\n When Republicans went after Debo Adegbile\u2014President Obama\u2019s former nominee to the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department\u2014they focused their fire on his prior professional obligations as a defense attorney, and in particular his work in the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted murderer of a Philadelphia police officer. Pennsylvania…\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is the nature of our criminal justice system that attorneys for the defense are meant — indeed, are obligated by the canons of their profession — to defend in any legal fashion possible. Whether they think their client is a wrongfully accused saint or the worst scum ever to walk the earth, their job … Continue reading “Defense attorneys DEFEND. That's their job”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,350,353,532,358],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-civil-liberties","category-elections-2014","category-elections-2016","category-poor-citizenship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135456,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/28\/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-inspiration.html","url_meta":{"origin":43239,"position":0},"title":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions is an inspiration!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 28-Nov-17 9:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately for federal law enforcement, he's becoming an inspiration for defense attorneys. Sessions proclaimed before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month that his ever-evolving story on involvement between the Trump campaign and Russia was completely legit. He asserted that he hasn't been lying, that \"my story has never changed,\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/jeff-sessions-testifying.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28398,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/21\/refusing-to-defend-a-law.html","url_meta":{"origin":43239,"position":1},"title":"Refusing to defend a law","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 21-Jun-12 11:21am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is one of those legal\/ethical conundra I have very mixed feelings about. \u00a0If you -- as a chief governmental executive or as a government attorney -- feel that a particular law is unconstitutional, do you still have an ethical requirement to protect it?\u00a0On the one hand, because I admittedly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135543,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/05\/latest-roy-moore-defense-plenty-teens-arent-accusing.html","url_meta":{"origin":43239,"position":2},"title":"Latest Roy Moore defense: there are plenty of teens who AREN’T accusing him","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 5-Dec-17 11:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWe need to make it clear that there\u2019s a group of non-accusers, that have not accused the judge of any sexual misconduct or anything illegal,\u201d explains one of Moore\u2019s campaign spokespeople on CNN. Yes, Jane Porter, Roy Moore spokesperson, is setting the bar of proof at \"Well, if not every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/moore-spox-other-girls.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27084,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/13\/what-would-frodo-do.html","url_meta":{"origin":43239,"position":3},"title":"What Would Frodo Do?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Mar-12 8:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I mean, really -- aside from the dubious use of Elijah Wood's face on their \"loyalty card,\" this seems like some a wildly innocuous copyright infringement that for the Saul Zaentz Company to come down on them like a ton of stones seems positively ... well, Sarumanesque.The only possible defense\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5699,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/21\/dirty_pool_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":43239,"position":4},"title":"Dirty pool","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Jan-04 4:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Regardless of how one feels about the War on Drugs, this kind of crap doesn't do much to promote respect for the law or the legal system. California medical marijuana...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":147693,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/12\/i-the-jury-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":43239,"position":5},"title":"I, the Jury","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 12-Dec-19 10:43pm","format":"aside","excerpt":"Mitch McConnell, the jury foreman in the impeachment trial is admitting that he's collaborating with defense counsel.","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43275,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43239\/revisions\/43275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}