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Originally Posted by Timmy
His own argument is counter-productive to his goals! He wants the guilty to be sentenced to jail, and yet he doesn't want a good, honest lawyer to defend them. Says "I would rather allow someone with less scruples to have that job."  |
Timmy,
Brother Benincasa is not trying to say he believes he is right in the sense that you are taking it. He has very firm, concrete ideals that he lives by and can't fathom walking away from those ideals or the way he holds his views. I perfectly understand his point of view and why he has it.
I also understand Baron and James's points of view, legally, that it is an American citizen's constitutional right to counsel, protection against self-incrimination and presumption of innocence.
Bro. Benincasa's thinking is, from an earlier post, that his FIL, who practiced law for 50 years never represented a client who claimed he was guilty. An attorney would be able to turn a client down if he claimed to be guilty but would represent himself as not guilty in the court room or in the case of being threatened with violence in some way by the client.
I was and am very aware of what the law affords, but I also saw another side. One example would be the defense team in the O.J. Simpson case who played the "race" card. All of that was and is incredulous to me and I didn't want to have a part in it.
Even the cases we represented and won for people that were innocent, as in the young boy whose father and step-mother were selling his nude pictures for gain - his son! - it was still emotionally draining. We were, of course, able to get full custody for the mother and only supervisory visitation for the father. On another note, the counselor told the mother and grandmother that in cases such as these, it is simply a matter of the offending party "apologizing" for their dark deed, which causes the victim to begin a healing process. In the case of small children it is necessary for them to have this as they will blame themselves in some way for what happened.
These cases go on for months and you have it on your mind every day. In the little boy's case, every time you opened the file the pictures were there! The client is sitting and waiting to see the attorney and sharing all of the negative things going on in the boy's life and in the life of the family being so stressed by the situation. That is also draining.
Whether innocent or guilty - whether the attorney is honest or unscrupulous - the fact remains - the law stands solid and it's a good thing for the citizens of this country.
We would then need to decide, individually, whether we want to be extensively involved in the process. I opted out, James and Baron opted in. There are some made for the task and others that can't hold up under it.
I couldn't fathom the police officer going against his oath and wanting to find a loophole. I didn't want to work with him. He was supposed to protect me and he failed. I was biased and knew that I would not change and could not change my viewing. We can get into Christian repentance, forgiveness, and restitution, but that isn't the point we are discussing right now.
Going a little further, some years later, I had a traffic violation and my boss came into my office to offer the services of his attorney. I think I would have paid around $100 to plead "not guilty" and have it written it off my record.
I said, "But, I was guilty." He laughed and said, "It doesn't matter, if you plead not guilty and pay, my attorney will get it dismissed." And me again, "But, I was guilty!" He said, "Forget it then!" and walked out of my office. I did the right thing, took a Defensive Driving course and had the ticket dismissed. What is so hard about that? lol
Anyway, in closing, I agree with these words I ran across:
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[I]f you're a decent human being and you've been a victim of crime yourself and you have family members that have been victims of crime, you feel tremendous turmoil. We're supposed to say, "It's not our job to worry about society, and everyone is entitled to a defense." That's all true, at an intellectual level, but at an emotional level, this takes a terrible toll, which is why some lawyers don't want to know if their clients are guilty.
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