Here are the quotes we wish you to consider and discuss:
“I would have defended Hitler,” he told the German news magazine Der Spiegel in 2008. “Defending doesn’t mean excusing. A lawyer doesn’t judge, doesn’t condemn, doesn’t acquit. He tries to understand.”
“There is an aspect of professional challenge,” he once told The Post of his client roster. “If I were a doctor I would rather have done the first open heart surgery than have treated 1,000 colds.”
“A man is never all black or all white,” he once told an interviewer. “In the heart of the worst criminal there is always a secret garden. And in the heart of the most honest man, a nest of the most terrible reptiles.”
The Washington Post article is here.
There is value in examining extremes. How many of us are just treating colds?
Enjoy your weekend.
24 comments:
I really appreciate your linking to that article, which struck me too. Having represented capital defendants, I am often asked how and why I could do it, given the horrific nature of the crime. Is there a limit to the horror we're willing to defend? If so I haven't found it. I think the answer must lie in our settled belief in the existence of the secret garden, and in the challenge of revealing it to others.
The reporter said of Verges: "His signature courtroom strategy was to minimize his client's alleged crimes by redirecting attention to other historical acts of violence." An example was France's brutal colonial rule of Algeria as the backdrop for his Algerian client's acts. It's useful to chink about the political, cultural and historical backdrop for our clients' acts.
Even if you do not speak a work of French, listen to him speak at Klaus Barbie's trial in 1987 (it's on youtube). The passion, the cadence, the timbre.
Art.
Passion .
I think I would have passed on Hitler's case.
Rumpole is a jerk and his blog administrator is one mean bi-atch.
Maybe Sunday is an appropriate day to discuss this. Today would have been #21 Roberto Clemente's 79th Birthday. He was the best ballplayer I ever saw or will see and was IMHO the best right fielder ever, although it's really 1 and 1A with him and Hank Aaron.
Phil R.
I always had great admiration for the attorney who defended Timothy McVeigh, Steven Jones.
Yes I too have represented some real bad people but, there was a case once where I simply couldn't represent the guy.
He was 17 and charged with gang rape of a retarded 15 year old girl in a park.
Kid walked into my office and said, "what's the big deal, it's not like she knew what we were doing?"
Withdrew next day.
Clemente was excellent. But Willie Mays the best I saw.
Although when all is said and done may be Miggy
Best I ever saw play was Stan Musial, followed closely by Willie Mays.
So old that I had the pleasure of seeing them both homer at Ebbets Field. I disliked the Bums, but it was close to my house.
12:34 pm: Ah, to listen to the "morality" of those who defend the immoral.
I saw Mays play the Bucs and Clemente in Forbes Field and many times since. Can't dispute May's greatness. Clemente just played with this fire that at times burned so hot that he just took over games with his bat and his arm and his base running. Never seen anything like it.
Clemente vs Mays- can't be objective. This started as a little old boy with a love of the Pirates that just colors everything I see black and gold, and has continued for 5 decades.
What's more complicated- the infield fly rule or the rule against perpetuities?
Fly rule
GB
The rules actually operate in converse proportionality with each other.
Infield Fly Rule:
The rule applies only when there are fewer than two outs, and there is a force play at third base (i.e., when there are runners at first and second base, or the bases are loaded). If a fair fly ball is in play, and in the umpire's judgment the interest trying to be conveyed will not vest until 21 years after the the death of some life in being at the creation of the interest, then the runner is out.
Conversely:
No interest is good unless it must vest, if at all,
when there are less than two outs and runners such that there will be a force play at third base if
not later than twenty-one years after the death of some life in being at the creation of the interest the interest will not vest or the runner will be forced out.
I wear converse.
GB
I saw Clemente play many times on the TV machine and once or twice in person. He was the best-looking ballplayer I've ever seen, playing with a leonine style and grace unlike and unmatched by any other player since.
That said, there's no way he was the best player of even his own era. The numbers, once eyed sabermetrically, even allowing for the ballpark he played in, simply won't permit that conclusion.
He wins the eye test, but the hard cold numbers speak otherwise.
Interesting article about defense demand for NSA docs:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/18/3571531/defense-lawyers-insist-on-clients.html
cysco has known since the nba finals about the susie rivera - arod connection.
my understanding is that she and her drug dealing client cut a better deal with major league baseball. 500 per hour. unlimited billing. i wonder if she was smart enough to include in her deal with mlb, fees for federal drug charges.
she thru her client bosch originally asked arod for 500k which he denied. It seems Arods lawyers tried to bait her with accord an satisfaction. Rivera sent the money back.
Only in Miami..
Im 43 and the best pitcher I ever saw from beginning to end of career was Greg Maddux. Randy Johnson is second.
Best hitter i ever saw? I don't know because it seems like its all tainted by steroids. Best contact hitter: Tony Gwynn. Best power hitter: Mike Schmidt
Last january in the Daily News this appeared:
"Bosch's lawyer, Suzy Ribero-Ayala, issued a statement on behalf of her client, saying the New Times article was “filled with inaccuracies, innuendos and misstatements in fact. Mr. Bosch vehemently denies the assertions that MLB players such as Alex Rodriguez and Gio Gonzalez were treated or associated with him.”
That was when she was trying to rip 500K from Afraud. He sent 50 and and she rejected the offer AND cut a deal with MLB.
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