After watching “A Time To Kill” for about the 90th time last night I started thinking about something. In the scene where Jake Brigance and Ellen Roark are at lunch and it is revealed that Brigance is a death penalty supporter, the exchange goes something like this* -
Jake: You are opposed to the death penalty.
Why?
Ellen: You’re not?
Jake: I’m in favor of it.
I’d like to go back to
hangings if we could.
Ellen: You’re kidding.
Jake: No. The only problem with the death
penalty is that we do not use it enough.
Ellen: Have you told Carl Lee this?
Jake: Carl Lee Hailey does not deserve the death penalty.
not direct quotes, I am running on memory here.
NOW, with all that out of the way, it brings me to my question…Do you think that a lawyers personal stance on the death penalty has any influence on his ability to defend someone in a capital murder trial? The character in the movie seems to indicate that someone who supports the death penalty could not defend someone that could possibly be put to death if found guilty.
So, I am not wanting to argue capital punishment, or anything like that, I am just simply wondering what everyone’s opinions are regarding an attorneys personal feelings versus the crime his defendant has been charged with.
Note - I was not sure where this should go, so please move it if it is in the wrong place. Thanks.
Generally irrelevant. I don’t do criminal defense anymore, but when I did, and if I do so again, the crime charged doesn’t make much difference. I personally think DUI is a bad thing that no one should ever do. I’ve also defended quite a few people charged with DUI. Won some of those cases, lost others. Personal feelings have nothing to do with it. The state either has the evidence to persuade the trier of fact (usually a judge for DUI cases in my state) that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, or it does not.
I’ve posted here before that I would defend Osama Bin Laden if appointed to do so or if I accepted a fee to do so. I disagree strongly with just about everything that guy stands for.
Is it easy to do that? Hell no. I’ve also posted before about another case I defended in Youth Court. When that case was over, two mothers went home that night and prayed about me. One of them asked God to bless me for keeping her child out of state custody for the next several years. The other mother asked Almighty God to send me straight to Hell for defending the monster she believes harmed her child. On the merits, the second mother is right. The kid I defended was a monster, and did harm her child. I don’t know if there is a God or a Hell for that God to send me to. Do know I did my job. Also know that I see the victim’s face, and the face of her anguished mother, in my nightmares. And I probably always will.
