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A Plainspoken Public Defender
I haven't been following this case so I might not have the story straight here, but as best I can tell it goes like this: A Missouri Mississippi attorney had a contract with two counties to be their public defender. He apparently also does his own private work. He considers taking on an unpopular case. One of the counties for whom he's the PD says if he takes the case, they'll terminate his PD contract. He takes the case. The county fires him.
Awesome, don't you think? It means you have the right to an attorney but only one who only takes cases approved by the local bigshots. But don't listen to me, listen to the public defender involved:
I have been Prentiss public defender officially (salaried) since February 1995 and unofficially for several years prior. During that time not one official complaint has been communicated to me about my performance. Of course, there have been many unofficial complaints about me “getting all those guilty people off.”
What it boils down to is something that I have known and personally observed about members of the “unwashed masses” for many years: When the Constitution and Bill of Rights are applied to benefit others, the right to counsel, due process, fair trial et al. are “technicalities”. Criminals get off on technicalities such as the 4th Amendment. Only when one of their asses is in a sling are these same documents “fundamental rights”.
Ain't that the truth. The same is true for all those people who say they don't care if the NSA is spying on them b/c they have nothing to hide. If they were arrested (say, because of some “misunderstanding”), they'd quickly sing another tune.
I wish people weren't so selfishly shortsighted, but then, if wishes were fishes...
BTW, I originally learned of this story via Alaskablawg, which is an awesome blog for anyone thinking about becoming a public defender. Excellent stuff. Plus, he's a celebrity: His trial is going to be webcast next week on CourtTV!
UPDATE: This post originally said that this situation happened in Missouri. My apologies to the Missouri State Public Defender for the error.
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"When the Constitution and Bill of Rights are applied to benefit others, the right to counsel, due process, fair trial et al. are 'technicalities'. Criminals get off on technicalities such as the 4th Amendment. Only when one of their asses is in a sling are these same documents 'fundamental rights'"
Amen!
Posted by: JR at January 12, 2006 12:41 PM
"You have the right
to free speech,
as long as
you're not dumb enough to actually try it."
Know Your Rights - The Clash
A Pearl Jam version
I also had an intern interviewing for a job in our office who referred to winning motions to suppress, quash, etc. as "absurd results." He didn't get the job.
Jack
Posted by: Jack at January 12, 2006 06:48 PM
