The Law on TV- Part 2

If the justice system hasn't become a mockery on TV before, well get ready folks... Armed & Famous is the newest reality show on TV. Celebs such as Erik Estrada and LaToya Jackson becomes... COPS! Given guns and the whole nine yards. I for one have no doubt that LaToya is up on her 4th Amendment Search and Seziure Law. At least she will know a controlled substance when she sees it. What ever happened to civil liberties and due process? Are these celebs going to show up and testify at prelims and suppression hearings? Of course not. Because some producer will flash a little cash to the uneducated and star struck defendant and it will all go away. It's all in the name of showbiz after all... let's not let a little thing like the Constitution get in the way.

The Law on TV

When people find out what I do for a living, I usually get two questions. The first, of course, is "How can you do that". The second is "Do you watch those law shows on TV?" The media has gone a long way to ruin the justice system for everyone, defendants, jurors, witnesses and victims. Everyone expects a case to be resolved in 60 minutes. Defendants expect their counsel to do as the ones on television (i.e. accuse the judge of illegal and unethical behavior and still go home at the end of the day).

Something is very wrong when someone like Nancy Grace is the source of information for legal matters to the general public. This is a woman who has been reprimanded by both the 11th Circuit and the Supreme Court of Georgia for unethical behavior and, among other things, presenting testimony to the court which she knew to be false. How this woman hasn't been disbarred is beyond me. Now she is a celebrity. Just goes to show that often in this country, intelligence and integrity are not as important as luck. Sad indeed.

Judicial Blackmail

How is it that Prosceutor's can do anything? Google "Judge Meyer Missouri" if you have some spare time. What an outrage. What ever happended to checks and balances and an independent judiciary? If one ruling goes against them, PA's are now smearing judges in the media and filing bar complaints against them. It's blackamail plain and simple. If a defense attorney did such a thing there would be chaos.

What makes it worse is politicans throwing judges under the bus and doing what they can to take all power away from judges. Scary stuff folks. We are more and more going to a place we don't want to go. Think 1939 Nazi Germany.

Another Disgruntled P.D.

People often ask public defenders what it is they really do. I have heard many possible answers but a friend of mine came up with the best one and thus became the name of this blog. He said, we really only do three things: Ask Questions, Raise Hell and Bitch.

Ever see Animal House when Jim Belushi says, "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.... it's not over till we say its over.

You know when you have had a good day? When the Judge, the cops and the PA are all pissed off at you. You can smile and go home happy. Freedom is preserved for at least one more day.

It's not an easy job. The best shirt I ever saw was from NCDC. "Don't tell my mom I'm a criminal defense attorney, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse.