Ramsey Clark & the right to counsel

[loupaulsen at attbi.com]

I'm sorry about that, jks, I didn't mean it as a slur on court-appointed 
lawyers in general and I apologize for the implication.  I didn't mean that 
all court-appointed lawyers sleep through trials.  I just wondered if Doug 
thought that the suspect in this case, who was arrested in Texas after all, 
should get only a very bad lawyer.  Because it's clear that Doug is NOT saying 
they should have gotten a better lawyer than RC.  He's saying "RC was their 
lawyer, so now RC has no credibility."

lp
> 
> --- loupaulsen at attbi.com wrote:
> > Doug wrote:
> > > [Whatever credibility Ramsey Clark had - and it
> > wasn't much - is now 
> > > thoroughly shot. Sure everyone needs a lawyer, but
> > these guys? 
> > 
> > Can you spell out your reasoning a bit?  "Everyone
> > needs a lawyer, but these 
> > guys really don't deserve one"? 
> 
> I think Doug's thought was that they deserved a more
> credible lawyer than RC. I don't know if RC is a good
> trial lawyer or not. Even a good trial lawyer
> generally can't beat a well-laid indictment strongly
> supported by evidence. I've seen it happen twice,
> maybe three times, two of which involved only partial
> acquittals.
> 
>  Or should they have
> > gotten a court-appointed 
> > lawyer who would sleep through the trial? 
> 
> As someone who just served as a court-appointed lawyer
> (on a habeas matter), where I think we did a bang-up
> job, putting in hundreds of hours and doing
> firtst-rate work, I think this slur on appointed
> lawyers is inappropriate. Many lawyers, appointed or
> otherwise, are lousy -- like many people in most
> professions. The Federal Public Defenders do
> yeoperson's work and are often really super, much
> better than private atty's that people pay for.
> 
> jks
> 
> 
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