[Vision2020] Public Defenders Office

[Joan Opyr]

Bubba says:

>There is a difference between going to court to get a reduced fine on a 
>speeding ticket, knowing that the worst that can happen is that the fine 
>isn't reduced, and, going to court knowing that the worst that can happen 
>is many more years in jail.

Of course there is, but I fear you've missed my point, which had to do with 
guilt or innocence.  We often fight cases in which we know we are guilty, 
and we fight them with great vigor.  We don't want to go to jail.  We don't 
want to pay the fine.  Or, we know we're going to jail, but we want to go 
for five years rather than twenty, and we'd prefer to pay fifty bucks 
instead of five hundred.  In order for an adversarial legal system to 
function, you have to have effective adversaries.  It doesn't really work if 
you have a gung-ho prosecutor on the one hand, and a defense attorney 
wearing a "Kick Me" sign on the other.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment

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