Why do you defend criminals?

I get asked this over and over and over again. What makes someone guilty? Because they are arrested? Case in point, look to the Duke lacrosse players. Arrested, charged, a district attorney calling out their guilt (he was disbarred today), thousands of people protesting those kids. The result: all charges dropped and an apology.

Because someone is arrested, does not mean they are guilty. Just today there was an article in the St. Petersburg Times that a Hillsborough County deputy was falsifying DUI reports, which became apparent when assistant state attorneys looked at the cruiser vehicle. As a result, he is fired (but won't be prosecuted because the ASA's believe the firing is enough punishment) and all cases involving him are being dropped. Yet again, another example of someone arrested and not being guilty.

And how often is someone arrested while the police break other laws trying to arrest them? It happens, and it happens more often than you think. A cop doesn't get promoted by not arresting people or letting people go.

And without defense attorneys, who will be there to defend our rights from the state? The state (whether it be the state or federal government) is not interested in protecting your rights. Their goal is to put you behind bars at any cost. And keep in mind, they have a never ending supply of resources to do this.

A prime example of this is Nancy Grace. She loves to gloat and say she never lost a case. Yes, well, many of her cases were overturned on appeal, and she was often called out by those appeals courts (in cases they overturned or affirmed) that she had gone too far and violated procedures and rights.

So I end this brief little explanation reminding you that not everyone is guilty. And if so, keep in mind what John Adams said in his defense of the British officers in command at the Boston Massacre,
"It is more important that Innocence be protected than it is that Guilt be punished, because Guilt and Crimes are so plentiful in this world that they cannot all be punished. But when Innocence itself is brought to the Bar and condemned, especially to die, Then the subject will exclaim, 'Whether I do will or ill is of no account; for for virtue itself is no security."

Three Cheers for Lawyers