Posted on 09/19/2002 7:03:56 PM PDT by Jalapeno
Fox talk show host calls for disbarment of Westerfield lawyers
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what kind of a world do we live in when a lawyer can decieve the public and the jury about someone who could do something so dispicable to a child. the guy knew what he did, and yet continued to drag this poor greiving family through the mud. I hate this lawyer and I hope he does get disbarred!
This senario is not likely. I do not believe that Westerfield had any intention to confess. There is no credible information about this fact. The only thing you have here is a rumored plea bargain offer that is absolutely a normal practice and is usually offered by the procecution.
IE: "Look here MR. Atty., we have all this evidence, we know your client is guilty so why don't you tell us where the body is so that we can bring closure to the family. We will not go for the death penalty in return."
My contention is that this is all that happened here and Brilliant Bill O'reilly has stuck his foot in his mouth again!
Say that you are an honest, moral person who happens to be a defense lawyer.
You want justice. Are you going to abandon a client because you THINK the MIGHT be guilty? No. But you're going to insist on the truth. You're going to make the prosecution prove it's case.
But say you come across a defendant who says "look, tell the DA I'll tell 'em where the child's body was dumped if they'll drop the death penalty. We'll talk about maybe 20 years or whatever. Offer 'em that."
So you do, and then the body is recovered. What do you do then?
No, sorry, you don't proceed along trying to get your client off. You don't try to do so by LYING. You KNOW he did it; he's told you so. So you're supposed so serve some sort of "greater good" by pretending that you really think some one else did it?
Sorry, this is just an untenable side of this argument. You people are trying to make this a noble thing, and it's not. It's just SLEAZY.
You just don't get it. This rule of conduct 1) does not proscribe punishment if violated, ergo is unenforceable and inconsequential, 2) refers to lawyers, not DEFENSE LAWYERS, 3) does not state that posing fabricated alternate scenerios is an artifice or false statement.
See, if you were an attorney, this would be so simple.
The plea makes me sick only because they used a child's body as a bargaining chip. Nevermind there were grieving parents and hundreds of police man hours involved. Yeah, they were just doing their job. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. ;)
Remember, these are attorneys we're talking about. After the conviction of Avila of murder, the attorneys of the previous case, as well as the most recent, had some coffee, set a tee time, and checked their savings accounts.
In short, its just a job, man, just a job.
Oh yes it is. I suggest you hunt some facts before piping up on these matters.
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