Orthogonally, you might also know what “suborn” means, and how to spell “perjury”. (So you claim to be in the writing business, eh?)

Silly me, I thought we were talking about actually pursuing justice, not playing games. But then, I have little use for legislative budget shenanigans or cowardly judges who hold individual attorneys in contempt when they should haul in the governor and and everyone else responsible for establishing funding for the office of the public defender.

The fact that others are playing a game does no mean I can’t call denounce proceedings for the “childish” affair that it is and, as a citizen, who isn’t an attorney, demand change, including seeking support from others who think we can, and should, do better to join in seeking that change.

Which gets us back on topic — why we should not accept an imperfect status quo.

You ask why a defense attorney would “allow” his client to take the stand? It is the defendant’s right under the Constitution. Would you rather the defense lawyer force his client to remain silent and then have the case reversed on appeal? That criticism, from someone who claims to work in the system, is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

When will public defenders not take on more than they can handle? When will legislatures, with the civil lawyers you love so much stop passing laws that require public defenders to take on cases “regardless of workload?” Did you know that? Are you aware that public defenders can be held in contempt for not taking cases? Probably not.

Your opinion of the criminal bar is noted.

Unfortunately, along the way I have had the displeasure of first hand observation of attorneys practicing criminal law (once as a juror, twice as a witness, although being a witness in a securities or admin case means being investigated and treated with hostility really due to the defendant.)

As a juror, I could not believe the attorney would allow his client to take the stand with a defense of thinly veiled untruths. (State trooper busted for soliciting a undercover posing as a prostitute and tried to argue he was actually doing an unauthorized, impromptu, undercover investigation of his own. — Conviction did not take long, except for the old lady who said, “but he’s so cute.” — the rest of us said, “cute liar” and brought her around to thinking liars are not cute, especially in state trooper uniforms.)

As for being a witness, it seemed the defense attorneys were always trying to pull a fast one, and, for that matter, the prosecutors were only about one step better and required careful watching. (”No, that is NOT my statement. What I said was…” — how many times must one say that?) Yesterday, my best friend called in tears because she is awitness in a manslaughter case. She was crying because a sloppy NYC DA didn’t get her camera stick from her 18 months ago and is mad that “you compromised the evidence by erasing it after you gave us the copies.” — My friend is an artist, who happened to be at a party where she photographed the defendant just before a very public crime occurred — how was it her job to preserve the evidence, and where does this incompetent get off beating up on my friend for her own mistakes?

And when will public defenders show some integrity and refuse to take more cases than they can handle? A friend of my cousin was 16 when he got picked up on a bogus charge that was later dismissed and expunged. If my cousin had not been there to tell the kid to ignore the public defender, an innocent 16 year old would have followed advice to “just plead to it, it’s not big deal.” Guess it wasn’t — we were only talking about the future of a 16 yr. old African-American male.

So no, I don’t have a good opinion of the criminal bar, even though I like most of the other attorneys I know. In the recent issue of “Super Lawyers” for Baltimore, I counted more than a dozen as friends who I can call on the phone and ask out to lunch from associations at work or on not-for-profit boards. Each one of these fine men and women do work for improving the world and seeking justice. I wish I could say as much for so many other members of the Bar.

(I am aware there are problems in civil litigation, but thank God, I have not first hand exposure to this bunch.)

WriterCPA

Most of the lawyers with whom I’ve worked over the years (and there have been many) have been honorable, intelligent people trying to do the best they knew how for their clients. I just know that lawyers are smarmy, though (because my culture tells me so). I don’t have any real experience with criminal lawyers, so that field must be that criminal law where the smarmy ones are hiding.