Cohousing-L Mailing List: Let's be careful throwing shade on public defenders

[Edwin Simmers (edwinsimmers]

Folks,

Let be careful about throwing shade on public defenders. Lots of marginalized 
people when they graduate from law school find it their true calling to serve 
the under-represented and do it well. As an example, Supreme court nominee 
Ketanji Brown Jackson worked as a public defender on behalf of criminal 
defendants and Guantánamo detainees before going on to be a federal trial judge 
and appellate judge. 

Not everyone can afford an expensive white shoe law firm. Lots of regular 
private defense attorneys have high overhead they need to cover and end up with 
lots of clients too. Public defenders usually have access to funds for expert 
witnesses and testing that defendants may not be able to afford with a private 
firm. I’d much rather be represented by a dedicated public defender who knows 
her way around the courthouse than some of the private attorneys I’ve known. 
Been there; done that.

Ed Simmers


> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2022 16:26:29 -0500
> From: Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com <mailto:dianaecarroll [at] 
> gmail.com>>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org <mailto:cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org>>
> Cc: Jennie Lindberg <jennielindberg1 [at] icloud.com <mailto:jennielindberg1 
> [at] icloud.com>>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Background checks
> Message-ID:
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> mail.gmail.com <mailto:CAAJBS=96Uprp4HhNwvH5v0XJTsszbw1XmxKOFCk8Lh1AUJ21iA 
> [at] mail.gmail.com>>
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> 
> Do note that the sex offender registry suffers from the same sort of
> systemic racism, classism, homophobia and injustice that the rest of our
> criminal and judicial system does. In fact, maybe even more so because so
> much hinges on what "level" of offender someone is categorized as in the
> registry, which has way more to do with who the defense lawyer is and the
> plea bargaining process than with the nature of your offense. Can't afford
> a personal lawyer? Have to rely on a public defender? Oops.
> 
> Diana