[Vision2020] Public Defenders Office
Melynda Huskey
mghuskey@msn.com
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 10:16:58 -0800
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
------=_NextPart_000_7585_3109_2a77
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
You know, sometimes innocent people require the services of a public
defender. Check out the Justice Project to see what the consequences of
lackadaisical public defense are:
www.justiceproject.org
Professor James Liebman, of Columbia University Law School, reviewed capital
cases in the U.S. in his
A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995, and found massive
error in every aspect of the process:
"The most common errorsprompting a majority of reversals at the state
post-conviction stageare (1) egregiously incompetent defense lawyers who
didnt even look forand demonstrably missedimportant evidence that the
defendant was innocent or did not deserve to die; and (2) police or
prosecutors who did discover that kind of evidence but suppressed it, again
keeping it
from the jury." (The entire report can be found at the Justice Project
website.)
Capital cases are the most serious, and rarest, of cases a public defender
handles. What is the error/carelessness/don't-give-a-damn rate for ordinary
cases involving poor, uneducated, or otherwise disenfranchised clients?
If you were falsely accused, would you want a public defender who advised
you that you should make a deal to save trouble, or one who would fight it
out for you? I don't want a public defender to be pals with the police or
the prosecutor; a civil and professional relationship, by all means, but
it's the clients who suffer when the network gets too cozy.
_________________________________________________________________
Find high-speed net deals comparison-shop your local providers here.
https://broadband.msn.com
------=_NextPart_000_7585_3109_2a77
Content-Type: message/rfc822
X-Message-Info: yilqo4+6kc6NvL25P01TQvELRE3/0X0u
Received: from whale2.fsr.net ([207.141.26.23]) by mc11-f1.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824);
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:49:30 -0800
Received: from whale2.fsr.net (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by whale2.fsr.net (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id i0UHjPb8038666;
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:45:25 -0800 (PST)
(envelope-from vision2020-admin@moscow.com)
Received: from psmtp.com (exprod5mx26.postini.com [12.158.34.181])
by whale2.fsr.net (8.12.3/8.12.3) with SMTP id i0UHhYb8034123
for <vision2020@firststepinternet.com>; Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:43:35 -0800 (PST)
(envelope-from sunilramalingam@hotmail.com)
Received: from source ([207.141.24.20]) by exprod5mx26.postini.com ([12.158.34.245]) with SMTP;
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:43:31 PST
Received: from psmtp.com (exprod5mx94.postini.com [12.158.34.82])
by starfish.fsr.com (8.12.8p2/8.12.8) with SMTP id i0UHhXUV088934
for <vision2020@moscow.com>; Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:43:33 -0800 (PST)
(envelope-from sunilramalingam@hotmail.com)
Received: from source ([64.4.15.121]) by exprod5mx94.postini.com ([12.158.34.245]) with SMTP;
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 10:43:31 MST
Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:43:31 -0800
Received: from 24.117.126.226 by lw10fd.law10.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP;
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:43:30 GMT
X-Originating-IP: [24.117.126.226]
X-Originating-Email: [sunilramalingam@hotmail.com]
X-Sender: sunilramalingam@hotmail.com
From: "Sunil Ramalingam" <sunilramalingam@hotmail.com>
To: bubbajones9763@hotmail.com, vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: Re:[Vision2020] Public Defenders Office
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Message-ID: <Law10-F121lFQNKwJsx0005b10d@hotmail.com>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 30 Jan 2004 17:43:31.0112 (UTC) FILETIME=[934FBA80:01C3E758]
Sender: vision2020-admin@moscow.com
Errors-To: vision2020-admin@moscow.com
X-BeenThere: vision2020@moscow.com
X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.10
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists2.fsr.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/vision2020>,
<mailto:vision2020-request@moscow.com?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Id: Moscow/Latah county community discussion list <vision2020.moscow.com>
List-Post: <mailto:vision2020@moscow.com>
List-Help: <mailto:vision2020-request@moscow.com?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists2.fsr.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/vision2020>,
<mailto:vision2020-request@moscow.com?subject=subscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists2.fsr.net/pipermail/vision2020/>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:43:30 -0800
Return-Path: vision2020-admin@moscow.com
<html><div style='background-color:'><P>OK, I'll bite.<BR><BR></P>
<DIV class=RTE>
<P>Bubba wrote:</P>
<P>"Correct me if I'm wrong, and I know you will, but I don't think it's the job of the public defender to help set guilty people free. Isn't it rather his job to make sure the state has a case, can prove its case and has not violated any of the defendant's rights?"</P>
<P>I think it's the job of all attorneys to try to win the case, if they can. (Your term 'help set guilty people free' does not necessarily apply, since a client who is factually guilty may not have been incarcerated at all, and may never be if we can win the case.) </P>
<P>"What people don't seem to remember is that the person accused of the crime knows whether he/she did it or not. If the accused actually did the crime Isn't it in his best interest to try and get a lesser sentence by making a deal with the prosecutor?"</P>
<P>You're talking about Plan Z here. Sure, if we can't win we try to make the best deal. But first we need to see if we can win. If the admissible evidence is such that we don't think we can win, then it's usually in the client's best interest to try to get the best sentence possible. </P>
<P>Just my view,</P>
<P>Sunil<BR></P>
<P> </P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr> <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMAENUS/2746??PS=">Check out the coupons and bargains on MSN Offers! </a> </html>
_____________________________________________________
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
http://www.fsr.net
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
------=_NextPart_000_7585_3109_2a77--