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The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. |
Posted on 01/23/2005 7:57:05 AM PST by Wordwipe
Reading about a few of these "best defenses" show that attorneys are the really accomplished "liars."
Incoming Littleton District Attorney Carol Chambers was quoted in the Rocky Mountain News as saying, “I know of three police officers who have a habit of being untruthful on the stand.” On a radio talk show recently, a prominent local defense attorney said, “Cops often lie on the witness stand.” Webster’s New World Dictionary defines a lie as, “Anything that gives or is meant to give a false impression.” Attorneys, mostly defense attorneys, have developed some creative stories for clients in the interest of “giving them the best defense possible.” Courts have even ruled that “Attorneys are allowed great latitude in conducting a defense.” Reading about a few of these “best” defenses show that attorneys are the really accomplished “liars.”
In 1976, during the bank robbery trial of Patty Hearst, defense attorneys explained why Hearst was not responsible for her acts. “She was simulating her behavior, but was later convinced that she was not lying but acting reactively in fear of her life. She had no mental disease or defect and did it because she was rebellious, extremely independent, intelligent, and well educated. She was not mentally competent and her part in the bank robbery was due to the fact that she was upset by her relationship with a boyfriend and she had a subtle hostility towards her parents and the establishment. Perhaps she was suffering from a saving-the-world-syndrome.”
In 1978, Dan White evaded the metal detectors in San Francisco’s City Hall, entered through a basement window, went upstairs, and shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. The defense attorney had Psychiatrist Martin Blinder testify that White had been depressed, which led him to eat junk food. Mr. White’s depression deepened when he ate Twinkies and drank Kool-Aid because he was a former athlete and knew that these foods were not good for him. This realization led to his murder spree. Today, this diagnosis is known as the “Twinkie Defense.” Dan white served only 5 years for voluntary manslaughter.
In 1987, Paul J. Dunn was tried for shooting, stabbing, and drowning his wife Pamela. His lawyer called on a prominent psychiatrist to testify that Dunn had been influenced by the movie, “Crocodile Dundee.” In this movie, the main character used a knife similar to the one that Dunn used to kill his wife. This effort to give Mr. Dunn the “best defense possible” was thwarted by the fact that the attorney forgot to check on the release date of the movie. It premiered one month after Mr. Dunn committed the murder. Mr. Dunn was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. This is now known as the “Crocodile Dundee Defense.”
In 1999, Michael Ian Campbell was arrested for threatening a Columbine student via the Internet. The defense attorney said that Ian Campbell suffered from “Internet Exhaustion” when he made the threats. He was intoxicated by the Internet to the point of being “hypnotized” when he composed and sent his threatening message over the Net. His attorney called it a “virtual threat made in a virtual state of mind” as opposed to a “real threat made in a criminal state of mind.”
Finally, do you remember Barry Scheck? He is one of the defense attorneys in the O.J. Simpson case who testified that DNA testing was unreliable. As of today, Barry Scheck has obtained the release of hundreds of prisoners through the use of DNA tests that proved the parties innocent. Do you think he has changed his mind about DNA, or is he just making more money by working the other end of the spectrum?
Cop liars? Yeah we have some and it is always inexcusable, but, Carol Chambers, attorneys are much more practiced. They are in court everyday presenting “creative defenses” that put dangerous people back on the streets. They hide under the cloak of “duty.” It is their “duty” to provide their client with the best defense possible, even if it is a fairy tale. Any lying in the courtroom by cops is dwarfed when it is compared to “legal lying” by attorneys. Ralph Waldo Emerson was once quoted as saying, “The louder he talked on his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” Remember that quote the next time you hear an attorney trashing the cops.
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The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. |
There is even a word for it: testilying.
If you are up against a cop, be ready to win by any means neccessary, since the system is broken.
Many are just plain stupid.
Then again, what can we expect from a system that pays folks who put their lives on the line a BS wage.
The system is broken.
Patty Hearst's attorney was an idiot. To protect her privacy he didn't tell the story of what happened to her. Among other things she was fed massive doses of LSD, kept in closet for over a month, forced to repeat leftist cant as part of her "re-eduction" and raped repeatedly by both male and female members of the SLA. She is a poor example to use of someone lying to get off, because she dind't get off. The jury found her guilty and she spent many years in jail before being pardoned or having her sentence commuted by Ford or Carter.
The funny thing is that a lot of them will still lie, or at the least, embellish even when they got ya cold.
My daughter was in an accident at an intersection. The other driver, who was coming from the opposite direction, went through a red light and hit my daughter who was in the middle of the intersection executing a left turn.
The other driver left the scene for a short while, and then came back. We think he went to a friend's house or called his friend from his cell phone and asked his friend to pretend to be a witness.
My daughter called the police, to report the accident, and a cop showed up. She called us and we showed up. Meanwhile, the other driver informed us that he was a respectable businessman and owned half of the neighboring town. We are in New York, but he had Florida plates on his vehicle, like many other people around here.
All of a sudden, the friend/witness, who said he was behind the other driver, showed up.
Oddly --the "witness," who said he was driving a car behind the other driver, was barefooted and without his license
Oddly -- the witness shook the cop's hand and said "I am a good friend of (name omitted here)."
Oddly -- the witness told the cop he could see both lights and they were yellow in both directions. It is physically impossible to see the color of the traffic light facing the opposite direction. But the cop took the witness' words to be true and would not listen to what my daughter had to say.
Oddly -- My daughter's boyfriend was in the car with her, but the cop said her boyfriend could not offer supporting testimony for her because he was in her car and passengers are not allowed to act as witnesses.
Within a week or two my daughter's friend, who was walking near her home, was hit by a cop who was backing up his cruiser. She was not badly hurt, but shouldn't he have asked for her name and address and filed a report?
After all sickening happenings, I'm am mostly saddened that my four children no longer trust cops as much as they did.
Proving police are liars in the smaller cases is very difficult. Especially on smaller cases where the cop is using nuance.
BTW for those who are quick to quote shakespear, remember the discussion about killing the lawyers was regarding how to stage a coup. By killing all the lawyers the conspirators would have nobody willing to defend individuals or with knowledge of the laws to defend the "government".
The USSR had a consitution, Nazi Germany had a Constitution, Cuba has a constitution. However without anyone to defend and represent according to said constitutions there is no law just tyrany.
It's only a BS wage if they're FORCED to perform their duties. As it is now, they're VOLUNTEERS. They new the salary before they took the job. As is with every other job, the pay is commensurate with the need for the profession.
Personally it seems that cops that lie in court are the rule not the exception. (from pre-filled out police reports for DUI cases, to always saying the defendant was read miranda rights when that is not the case, to nuanced tricks to create a faux confrontation)
I think at some point we will have to have continuous taping of all arests if not duty shifts to hold the police accountable.
I smell a lawyer.
I am sorry about your experiences. I would be the last one to say that cops NEVER lie. I know that some do. My point in writing the article is that when we get caught lying, we are prosecuted. Our legal system allows any defense, no matter how wild, to be used in the interests of putting on the "best defense possible."
In answer to your question, he should have called a supervisor to the scene and made a report. Did you contact a supervisor?
Thanks for your reply.
Most of the cops I know are very nice guys, I don't think they would do this. Nevertheless, I know it happens some...seems like most of us know of instances of cops lying on the stand.
GASP! a lawyer and a freeper!
It is hard to prove that anyone is lying.
Our problem here is that the primary focus is on the rule of law and not justice. I have witnessed many defense lawyers concoct defenses that had no basis in truth.
As a former prosecutor and elected DA (from the Southwest), during 12 years of criminal law (sometimes as prosecutor and sometimes as public defender) I only ran into two cops who were problems on the stand. The first was run out of town, and I refused to prosecute any cases the second one brought, until he finally fixed himself with a DWI-which ended in his firing. However, that said, it is another thing entirely for an incoming elected DA to trash the cops at the beginning of her term She will have enough trouble getting the cops to work with her as a female DA, without antagonzing them and shaming the profession in the press (of all places). Defense attorneys, in my experience, think all cops lie all the time.
They have been prosecuted in Denver.
On the other hand, people who make false complaints against cops are never prosecuted.
Smart, capable people are not attracted to mediocre paying gigs.
You get the volunteers you pay for.
The military at least offers travel ("adventure"), challenges, training and college tuition.
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