How Do Criminal Attorneys Stand Representing Child Molesters and Mass Murderers?
James Holmes, Jeffery Dalmer, Eric Williams; all of these individuals have been represented by criminal defense attorneys.
I’m often asked, and I know that many people want to ask but think it impolite to do so, how can I stand to represent people who have committed horrible crimes? A related question is, “How do you represent someone who you know is guilty?”
My stock reply to the first question is, “All of my clients are innocent.” Of course, I and everyone who asks this question knows this is not true but I ask it in order to challenge the assumption that all of my clients are guilty. My stock reply to the second question is, “Why didn’t you ask how I felt when a client I knew was innocent was found guilty?”
Again, I attempt to challenge the assumption implicit in the question. In fact, criminal defense lawyers often have a difficult time relating to the concern expressed in these questions. Once one accepts the fact that criminal attorneys generally represent anyone who is charged with a crime, some of whom will be innocent, the concern seems misplaced. I think everyone would agree that some innocent people get arrested, and I think everyone would agree that a lawyer can’t immediately discern the guilty from the innocent merely by having an initial meeting with the prospective client. If a lawyer then only represented clients who continued to maintain their innocence then many unnecessary…
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