Another thing that the guy said to me was that 99.99% of his clients are guilty, if for no other reason than the ones who aren’t guilty find a way to get someone other than a public defender to represent them. Being poor and innocent is a bad combination, though.
He may have thought that, in part to ease his mind, but I don’t agree. Attorneys aren’t cheap. I believe a lot of people see this steam roller headed in their direction, and they don’t know what avenues are available to them, so they cave.
With legal aide places out there these days, I do believe a person can get a fairly decent idea of what their opportunities are. I’m not convinced that was always the case.
I’m not sure that people fully understand and take advantage of the legal aide places either.