Today, as a young ‘up and coming’ lawyer, everyone in the firm was congratulating me for winning my first big case this morning. And all day long all I could think about is how I used a technicality in the law to help a murderer walk away a free man. MMT

Comments

If you watch movies there is one out there that may be of interest to you its called Devil's Avocate 1997 with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino....

How could you?

I'm not going to pretend like I know what's going through your mind, but I don't think you should be condemned. Maybe it's time to look for a change of career, maybe you should be a prosecutor rather than a defense attorney. I think that being a defense attorney is one of the hardest things to do, for exactly this reason. You are not a bad person, nor should others think that of you. If you were okay with a murderer walking away, then perhaps, but you know this is wrong in your heart, so you truly are a good person. But seriously, move your career in a different path. I believe in you!

Really, jmitchell? My definition of "good person" doesn't mean acting opposite your beliefs and/or values. To be fair I believe you have a point about switching to a different legal role, maybe an organization like Lambda Legal, even.

First of all, lichen, but I'm pretty sure that the sentence above the comment box says to be respectful, and I was only trying to offer support. I do not think that murderers should be allowed to walk, but I don't think that being his/her attorney means that you are a horrible, awful person. That role belongs to the murderer. Should we also put every soldier in the military on trial because of their job? Should I be put in jail because I lied or jaywalked or said the wrong thing? And no, I don't think that people should act opposite of their beliefs. However, I think this person learned a very valuable life lesson and we shouldn't condemn him/her. Yes, I think perhaps a change of company is in order. However, I simply posted some words of support instead of condemnation. I don't think that this person needs to be told they have done the wrong thing, I think that they need to know it is okay to move on and change their life. This site is not for telling people if they are awful or not, it is a site that tried to make people think, which I believe it has. That is all. I don't want to start anything or argue, I simply was trying to speak my mind.

Thank you so much for making ME feel awful. For your information, I AM in therapy, but not for the reasons you think. Thanks though for making that the issue here. I am NOT too sensitive for the internet. If I was, do you think I would have even written a comment in the first place. And yes, I have heard of that quote, I believe Edmund Burke said that. I am not an idiot. And I think YOU are taking this the wrong way. I was simply responding to the sarcasm I felt was in your original post towards me. I have nothing against that second sentence of your original post, but the first is what I wasn't comfortable with. I will admit that I tend towards being defensive, but that is a story meant for my therapist, not broadcast on the internet. And my logic in believing that you thought the OP was awful was from your definition of a good person. Perhaps I was wrong in my assessment, but I don't know what else you could have meant. And for your information, I am readily open to opinions that are different, I'm not from the stone age. And why wouldn't I be defensive when clearly, you were the one who had an issue with me. Now, I don't want to have a pissing contest with you or anyone, so this is my last post. If that makes you happy, fine. And if this is what is all over the internet, perhaps I will stop using it, no wonder there are so many depressed people in the world. Goodbye.

ahahahahahahahaha ^ classic last word syndrome.

I believe this is getting off-topic, and I believe we can all behave better than this. "loser", you did what you were payed to do as a lawyer. I do not think that you are a bad person, but I do think you may want to consider finding another profession, such as a prosecutor like suggested above. You need to forgive yourself and remember this, but don't let it get you down. You can do it.

You know, people are all for a democratic, "fair" society, until they are forced to see the other side of that. Guilty men are defended, too. And sometimes they win. That's the price we pay for creating a system of checks and balances; a system meant to be as fair as possible to everyone. You cannot deny someone the right to trial and fair representation because he or she is guilty. The author of this post was doing a job necessary to such a system. I know that I myself could never be a defense attorney for this exact reason. If you can't do it, get out of it. But don't judge someone too harshly for doing what I think is the hardest part of maintaining our legal system; making yourself the bad guy and having to live with the guilt of helping someone you may not moralistically believe deserved it.

You did nothing wrong. As a society we have crafted our legal system with the ideal of never convicting an innocent person. Part of the cost of that is, in order for that to happen we will inevitably free some guilty people. Conversely, if we had a system where every guilty person was convicted, we would end up locking away many innocent people. It may not have felt great but it was necessary.

Denny Crane uses MMT?

Ahh... things can get so carried away... Lessons in life aren't always the easiest ones... These are the ones we learn from the most..

When I rode the first comment I clicked on jmitchell profile to try to know something from this person. I really apreciate your attitude. Here in MMT we have seen how bad it is to don't have people opened to try to understand us istead of condemn.

Jmitchell- In today's world prosecution wouldn't be too different.. I have someone who was found guilty of molesting their step sister even though they never touched her.. The mother of this girl was jealous of her ex husband's new (better) marriage and coached her daughter to "confess" that she had been touched. The mom (who has about 5 or 6 kids all from different men) walked away with enough money to get a new car and now never has to work again. And my friend? His relationship with his mom was ruined, so much money was lost on a cocky lawyer who half-assed the job, and he has attempted suicide 3 times. Today's world..

luizgplittig - thank you for seeing where I was coming from. Ashleyx3x - I know people can be stupid. I think that lawyers need to be responsible and not let things like this happen. And I'm sorry about your friend, I hope that he sticks around and sees that not all people are horrible. It's good that you two are friends. And I agree, lawyers, as promoters of justice, need to be vigilant in determining whether or not their clients are telling the truth. That is just a horrible situation and I just want to say again that I hope your friend stays around, because the world can be so much better than this.

Chepe, that is completely unnecessary. This site is entitled Makes Me Think; you should probably work on the thinking part a little bit more before you post comments.

In most cases being out of prison makes him less likely to re-offend; you probably did society a favour

In most cases being out of prison makes him less likely to re-offend; you probably did society a favour

Please, don't hate yourself for there is a lot of life to live yet. Believe in yourself to do great things, for one thing you believe is wrong doesn't rule the way the rest of your life will go. And all others, do not judge a man or woman when they have done wrong, for who are you to cast poor remark or a fist at someone who is just like you. "When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw the stone at her.'" -John 8:7 It isn't for any of us to be judged by one another.

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