What’s a good attorney. Anyone accused of committing a crime
needs a good attorney. So, what is the definition of a good attorney. I look at
two high profile trials, O. J. Simpson and George Zimmerman; both involved the
worst of crimes: murder. Johnnie
Cochran along with a team of others and Mark O’Mara and Don West defended the defendant, both
of whom walked. Admittedly, I am jumping the gun a little in the case of Zimmerman,
but a white man on trial for killing a black person wearing a “hoodie” in Florida
is not exactly an up hill climb. Still, the attorney could have blown it.
Based on the
results of these two trials the definition of a good attorney should be
obvious. A good attorney is one who can convince a jury that their client is
not guilty when everyone, including the attorneys, knows their client is
unquestionable guilty. Lawyers are “officers” of the court in which they serve,
as such; they are sworn to uphold the law. In the dream world of jurisprudence,
their only purpose is to see that their client receives a fair trail. It brings
to mind the famous but fictional rape trial of Tom Robinson as detailed in the book to Kill a Mocking Bird , also a trial that took place in the South. An innocent client was defended
beautifully but the jury found him guilty.* The two murders trials mentioned,
are in clear contrast. The defendants are guilty but juries found them innocent
because their attorneys defended them beautifully. Who are the good lawyer? It seems almost blasphemous to put Attornys Cochran
and O’Mara in the same category as Atticus Finch.
* Recently, in
North Carolina, the rogue state legislature passed a law that says that proven racial
bias is not justification for a retrial.
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