I am a big believer in personal responsibility. If you wear pants that belt around your legs with your underwear hanging out, you should expect that at some point your pants will fall down--not blame the belt. If you stretch out your earlobes to put in large rings, you should expect that you'll regret the floppy earlobes you have when you are 60, not blame your earlobes for not growing back.
Put a little more seriously, a person should act respectfully, expect to be treated in a similar manner, should avoid causing harm to others, and should also avoid harming themselves. If you break these rules, you should expect consequences for your behavior, sometimes criminal consequences. However, not everyone has committed the crime of which they are accused. Further, even if they have, we should remember that we all make mistakes, so leniency is sometimes merited in considering punishment for the individual. As part of my law practice, I help those accused of crimes, preparing and presenting that individual's defense, while additionally helping to insure that the constitutional rights of all are protected from unfair infringement by governmental action.
It should come as no surprise that the government can also make mistakes. When the government makes mistakes, and tramples on an individual's freedoms, it should expect the consequence that even the guilty individual will be cleared of the charges. After all, this is the best way to insure that all of our personal freedoms are protected. Heck, even the jail makes mistakes. For example, I've seen a jail refuse to release someone from its custody despite receiving an order which showed that the inmate ought to be released, apparently because its employees couldn't read the paperwork correctly. (Hint: "2 years probation" generally means "released from custody" and checking the box "suspended" always means that the prison term is suspended, thus, "released from custody"). It should not take a second order from a Judge which says "Inmate Shall Be Released Immediately" to convince the jail that the inmate is entitled to be released.
When mistakes are made, sometimes the person making the mistake ought to be given a chance to prove they will not make the mistake again. Unfortunately, though, the person charged with a crime is often treated just like every other criminal defendant. The OWI defendant, drug possession defendant, driving offense violator---they often share common categories of stories, and so the system is often tempted to lump them all together in their "crime category" and treat them the same.
Put very simply, the Criminal Defense Attorney's job is not only to protect that person's constitutional rights, thereby protecting all of our rights (by calling the government on their mistakes). The job also calls for the Attorney to make the Judge and prosecutor see the accused as a person, not just a category. By doing so, the Attorney can help the Judge and prosecutor avoid making the mistake of imposing punishment where none is warranted--or of imposing an unfairly harsh punishment.
Everyone makes mistakes, but if the day comes that you need help fixing the mistake, take comfort in knowing that there are attorneys around to help you fix or deal with many of those mistakes. I do have to admit, however, that I will not be able to fix all of your problems---I'm not going to hold your pants up for you, and you are on your own with the floppy earlobe.
jacksonlawiowa.com
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