Re: Carol, what did you used to do for a living?

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On 3/10/06, Mr. Blue wrote:
> On 3/10/06, The Zephyr wrote:
>> She asks me all the time how I
>> can defend people like that. I tell her the old addage about everybody is entitled to a
>> zealous defense; she thinks they're entitled to be taken out back and shot:-)
>
> How do you deal with defending child molesters and the like? My fiance has jokingly said
that
> she'd leave me if I did that.
It's my job. Same as caring for child abusers in the hospital. What I do is look at it this
way: I am defending the person not the action. As a mother it sometimes makes my job very
difficult. But we all know, we don't have to like our clients. And sometimes, they're
innocent. Or the police have violated their rights, etc. Yes, I know what people say, "so
what? After what he did to that kid he's not entitled to rights anyway. What about the
rights of the victim?" And I can't say none of those things cross my mind once in awhile.
But next time it might be my son or my brother, or myself whose rights are violated. And when
I was a clerk, we had a case where I am sure that the injury to the child was a birth injury,
not shaken baby. Unfortunately there was no money for expert witnesses to read the MRIs etc.
so he ended up pleading to a lesser. That has stayed with me. Sometimes, not real often, but
sometimes, they are innocent. My study partner in law school was involved with the Innocence
Project. Their client spent 7 years in prison for rape of a young girl, then was exhonerated
with DNA. Sometimes, they are innocent. I would rather put a guilty person back on the
street than deprive an innocent one of his freedom and possibly life.