(But
> I'm not a lawyer and this
> is not legal advice. You can tell because if I were
> a lawyer, I'd probably
> be telling you to take the deal. Cuz, I'd have
> other clients with worse
> problems than you. And I'd be really pressed for
> time. And it's the way things are
> done. Etc., etc.)
>
Fuck you. Where the hell do you get off with this anti-defense lawyer bullshit? I am ethically obliged to advocate zealously for each client and I take the responsibility seriously. whether the client is a megacorporation or gangbanging murderer. I would never issue cookie cutter advice to plead. That would be a violation of my professional responsibility. I would never blow off a client because another client has worse problems than you. Or because another client pays we more money. In considering whether to advise a client to plead, I would, and do, explain the stakes, the advantages and disadvantages, and look at each case individually -- a lot depends on the strength of the evidence and the general case against you. Also on what you want to do; most people want to stay out of jail or minimize their time there, but some people have political statements to make, and if that the client's goal I help them make their statements.
Of course I am not an overburdened public defender who gets paid practically nothing and with a caseload of 30 clients who meets them ten minutes before we go before the court either, but those people do the best they can, and it is a stupid and insulting idea to blame the lawyers for that situation.
And you know what? I am not an unusually ethical lawyer -- most of us take our responsibilities seriously. So here's some nonlegal advice for people caught in the injustice system: your lawyer is not your enemy. Don't trust her or anyone else blindly, ask questions, move carefully, but don't swallow this poison shit Jenny is ladling out.
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