[Tex Pete]

“why would any sane person want to devote his life to trying to spring hundreds, maybe even thousands, of felons?”

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.— 1 Timothy 6:10

[clamper1797]

They are not there only for the 90% who are guilty. They are mostly there for those of us who are not ... for without them we would ALL be guilty at the governments whim

[kbennkc]

Any conservative who has so little regard for the wrongly accused caught up in our criminal justice system that he engages in lawyer bashing demagoguery , is very close to trading his respect for civil liberties for statism .

[Libertarianize the GOP]

Here is a book by one of the lawyers, I haven’t read it but the interview sounded interesting.

“How Can You Defend Those People: The Making of a Criminal Lawyer”

http://www.amazon.com/How-Can-Defend-Those-People/dp/0394411846

[wideawake]

There is a difference between defending a guilty man as an innocent at trial, and defending a guilty man by negotiating the best deal he can get in exchange for a guilty plea.

Defense attorneys serve an essential purpose in our criminal justice system and many of them will work pro bono for a client they truly believe to be innocent.

Not every defense attorney is an F. Lee Bailey/Gerry Spence level scumbag.

[contemplator]

"..why would any sane person want to devote his life to trying to spring hundreds, maybe even thousands, of felons?.."

I had a conversation with my 10 year old son several months ago which will stick with me forever. While on our way to Boy Scouts I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. His mother and I had mentioned many times over the years that we would love for him to be a Doctor or a Lawyer attempting to set the bar pretty high and telling him that he would have to work hard to get to one of those lofty positions. It was no surprise to me then when he answered lawyer. I decided to dig a little deeper figuring he was simply parrotting what he thought I wanted to hear.

I then asked him why thinking that he would give a pat answer such as "I want to help people" or even something as simple as "the money". His response stunned me. He answered "Because Hitler needed a lawyer". I didn't know what to say. Although he is only 10, he and I have had many discussions about the holocaust and I had sent him to a Jewish summer camp for the past couple of years now just so he could be exposed to a different culture. After a very pregnant pause I asked him to elaborate. He responed "It doesn't matter how bad a human being is, everyone deserves someone to take their side and to argue it for all it's worth."

I have long since pre-paid for my son's first four years of college via the Florida pre-paid college fund. I began that day to save in earnest for law school.

[pnh102]

Has Burt Prelutsky ever considered that the notion that 90% of all accused are guilty is because prosecutors have to work very hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are in fact guilty. Prosecutors have to do this only because the accused can have a criminal defense lawyer work on their behalf. Could you imagine how many more innocent people would be imprisoned illegally if we did not have criminal defense lawyers?

[joebuck]

Biblical doctrine holds that 100% of all people are guilty of the capital offense of sin. Why would any sane God sacrifice his only begotten perfect son to act as a mediator for these rotten sinful people and save them from a wrathful God. I’m just glad he did.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Frankly, if I had been on the bench that day, I would have assured the mouthpiece not to worry about the rope because even if it broke, the fall would no doubt kill his gargantuan client.

Not to worry: his head will be ripped off before the rope ever breaks. Rest easy.

[realdifferent1]

why would any sane person want to devote his life to trying to spring hundreds, maybe even thousands, of felons?

Because that is not the job of a defense atty [in a perfect world]; it is to keep the state from 'Nifonging' defendents.

As I say, in a perfect world.

[Cicero]

In this imperfect world, no justice system is perfect.

An adversarial system, with a jury of free men, and state prosecutors who can be voted out of office (or the politicians who appointed them can be voted out of office) is about as fair as you’re going to get. There will always be miscarriages of justice, but fewer than if a gang of tin-pot dictators runs the show and there is no one to oppose them.

[Jack Hammer]

“...why would any sane person want to devote his life to trying to spring hundreds, maybe even thousands, of felons?”

Money, and a broken moral compass.

[Tammy8]

I often find myself wondering how seemingly normal people ever wind up being criminal defense attorneys.

When I was young I had a burning desire to be a criminal defense attorney, I felt many people charged were innocent and waiting for me to save them. In Criminal Law I we observed both the cattle call hearings and several actual trials in progress. I began to see that most people in criminal court as defendents are either obviously guilty or sure have the misfortune of appearing to be. I decided I could not defend guilty people day after day- doing my best to get them off and go home and sleep at night. I saw enough prosecutors pull crap that I didn't want to do that either. Tort Law seemed too boring so I decided not to pursue law. I really can't imagine anyone wanting to be a lawyer at all. I still like to discuss and debate law so maybe that is what hooks some of them in.