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That's simply not true with most defense attorneys. The types of people who pursue careers in criminal defense tend to be folks who will definitely question "their bosses" ..........and there are many ways to do that. For example, filing a Bar complaint against "their boss" if that boss suggests that they do ANYTHING other than zealously represent their clients. Criminal defense attorneys are frequently big risk-takers and do not fear "losing their jobs"........
How much experience have you had working with public defender lawyers in order to have seen anything to support your belief that these people who take low-paying jobs in order to represent the "least" in our socety would then throw those people under the bus simply for a "very small" paycheck?
I have worked with attorneys, but I'm not going to tell you in what capacity or expound upon that period of my life. Only one was honest and worthy of trust, he truly cared, but he had the typical inflated ego that goes with the territory. His ego outmatched his ability to do much for his clients. I enjoyed the research aspect of it all.
These price tags you're quoting, is that the cost to try the case or the cost for the DEFENSE ONLY? There are TWO sides in these cases, the prosecution and defense, and BOTH are funded by taxpayer money.
"Adequate" is not the standard for representation in any case. Did you know that cases can get overturned over something call Ineffective Assistance of Counsel.....IAC?
OBVIOUSLY you have no experience or education regarding our justice system or you wouldn't make such absurd claims.
I'm not making absurd claims. I gave a price tag for two public cases, their total cost.
50M for unibomber, 12M for Gary.
I could care less who spent more, from defense or prosecution side.
If we are spending this kind of money on cases, that's financial abuse.
No case requires that kind of expenditure, IMO.
Whether a case gets overturned or not, or is on appeal is no matter either.
We, as the public can't become the financial bottomless pit backers for legal pursuits.
Once, again that's my opinion.
Whether, I have experience in our justice system, is not the issue here.
The cost our public judicial system spends is though.
I'm just baffled that you do not think it requires financial restraint.
You know, I think there is a student/lawyer forum on CD somewhere -
you should check it out
Considering that folks insist on the right of every citizen to have everything from a AR-15 to a Barrett chambered in .50 cal I'm not surprised or unhappy that the police have fighting chance to enforce the law.
You consider ordering a citizen out of a vehicle and forcing him to strip naked in public, an act of enforcing the law? I say it's a direct violation of it.
You consider house to house warrant-less searches ... ordering men, women and children out of their homes at gunpoint an act of law enforcement? I say it is a direct violation of the laws of our nation.
The reality is, cowardice and stupidity are often far more dangerous than evil, because it is what allows evil to exist and flourish. Courage and wisdom are the greatest enemies of evil, by contrast.
During house to house searches, did anyone refuse law enforcement requests, and if so,
what happened, if anything?
Don't feel like doing a search on CD now, but I did post the other day that a house to house search while in hot pursuit of a suspected dangerous person is exempt from a warrant, which I provided in a response to this poster ..and I'm sure no one complained about having law enforcement do these searches.
Okay, easy enough to find...
Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement
Emergencies/Hot Pursuit
The rationale here is similar to the automobile exception. Evidence that can be easily moved, destroyed or otherwise made to disappear before a warrant can be issued may be seized without a warrant. Furthermore, if a suspect enters private property while being pursued by officers, no warrant is required to enter that property in order to continue pursuit, even if the suspect is in no way connected with the property owner.
You are ignoring the price tag. For Gary it was 12M.
That is the problem with our present judicial system.
BTW, I don't see this case as all that complicated.
But assured, our judicial system will be hell bent on making it one,
while they rack up the bills.
The price tag for the Ridgway Defense Team was discussed by one of Gary's attorney's, Mark Prothero, in his excellent book Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer.
At one point the King County's prosecutor's office was referring to it as a "Porsche defense", but even they have to admit that it was well worth the expense.
Without the defense team that worked on Ridgway's behalf, the families of the GRK victims would never have had the answers that they do today.
I think that it was money well spent - as is any money used to ensure that a criminal defendant is fairly, competently, and adequately represented.
There can be no public case that complicated, that warrants that
kind of price tag.
Sure there can be.
The discovery process alone in a complicated case may require hours of investigative and research work. and that process may take several months, or even years.
The workload cannot be placed on the shoulders of only one man or woman - there are support personnel who are involved in complicated cases - and they need to eat too.
Without being intimately aware of the needs of a successful defense effort, you in no way can place a price tag on what you would deem to be adequate.
Each case is different and needs will vary.
You seem very hostile to the idea of a defendant having the right to representation.
I sure hope that you aren't ever arrested or charged with a crime - with your attitude, you would be sent straight to the slammer - or the needle.
These price tags you're quoting, is that the cost to try the case or the cost for the DEFENSE ONLY? There are TWO sides in these cases, the prosecution and defense, and BOTH are funded by taxpayer money.
"Adequate" is not the standard for representation in any case. Did you know that cases can get overturned over something call Ineffective Assistance of Counsel.....IAC?
OBVIOUSLY you have no experience or education regarding our justice system or you wouldn't make such absurd claims.
Such things are to protect the illusion of justice, while feeding the beast in so doing. But the reality is, there is no such thing as "assistance of council" in our Judicial System, let alone effective. In order to provide assistance of council in a courtroom in the United States, one has to either serve as council Pro Se, or retain an attorney licensed to practice law in that jurisdiction. That even holds true for lower JP courts.
The problem with this is, licensed attorneys serving as defense council are just as much "officers of the court" as are prosecutors, and subject to the sanctions and will of the court. This fact should even be more obvious in the case of public defenders, who really have a very poor record historically when compared to the prosecution. This obvious conflict precludes effective assistance of council, right out of the gate, because as the old axiom suggests, no man can serve two masters.
Once upon a time, not that long ago, you could have any knowledgeable, well spoken person familiar with fundamental legal procedure, represent you in court. That day no longer exists, and neither does effective assistance of council, if such a thing should require undivided loyalty to the client, as it most certainly would, and no obligations whatsoever to the court.
Of course, the 98% conviction rate in Federal Courts suggest one of two things .... either law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys are virtually flawless in their pursuit of the guilty and delivering true blind justice ... or that 2% reflects the rare few who can afford an OJ team, while the rest of us are just up the creek without a paddle the moment an indictment is issued. Care to take a gander at which one is the most likely scenario?
He's already confessed ... haven't you kept up with the latest news?
A confession does not = a plea of guilty or not guilty at an arraignment.
He was read his Miranda rights, shut his mouth(or quit moving his hand while holding a pen above a piece of paper), and was assigned a public defender.
It is still very early in the legal process.
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..and I'm sure no one complained about having law enforcement do these searches.