“Having had some rather unfortunate experiences, I can assure you that criminal defense attorneys are generally more honest than most prosecutors.”
That may well be true. But only because we don’t define getting guilty people off or getting lesser sentences than deserved as dishonest.
Oh, and we have presumption of innocence, various rights, judges, and appeals. To protect us from prosecutors, for the very reason that we don’t expect them to be honest. I, personally, don’t expect defense lawyers to be honest either. I just wish more people would realize that’s not necessarily a good thing. Not that we can fix it, any more than we can entirely rid ourselves of malicious prosecution.
Far too many judges are in the pocket of the prosecutor, especially in state courts. As for appeals, there is a concept of judicial discretion that is given to the trial judge, so that only in the most blatant instances, the decisions of the trial court judge are upheld. There is far too much leeway in many of those cases.