“Are All Of Your Clients Innocent?”

No. There you have it. All my clients aren’t innocent. No beating around the bush from me. I won’t give you that frequently offered smug line, “All of my clients are innocent…until proven guilty.”(Even though they are legally innocent) As a criminal defense attorney, I do represent numerous “guilty” clients. “How can you defend those guilty people?”, many have asked. The answer is, “It’s actually easier to defend someone who is guilty.”
To understand what I’m saying, imagine someone you care about was accused of a crime that she/he did not commit. Imagine feeling powerless over the police, prosecutor and judge. You want so desperately to make the charges go away, however, you can’t. Sleepless nights, stress, and anger all accompany this living nightmare. Who do you turn to? Me. While I can’t guarantee any particular result, I take on representation of your innocent loved one with the promise that, “I will do all that I can do obtain the best possible outcome under extremely challenging circumstances.” In spite of indicating that you understand that I cannot pull a “David Copperfield” and make the charges disappear, you don’t really want the “best possible outcome.” In your mind, anything short of the charges being dropped would be a miscarriage of justice. Well, that energy and pressure falls on me. While I’m always up for the challenge, I nevertheless am constantly feeling the daily pressure to keep doing the next right thing in order to obtain justice for my clients. One of the many initial challenges that I face in dealing with innocent clients is that most prosecutors and judges don’t believe that my client is innocent. You ask, “But what about the presumption of innocence?” Ha! That only exists in cheesy television law dramas. In reality, most prosecutors and judges believe that if a person was arrested, they must be guilty. Similarly, most potential jurors typically share the same philosophy. I prove that every time I’m picking a jury at trial. Invariably, I ask the following questions: “Have you ever driven by the scene of a crime and seen someone who had been handcuffed by police?” (After most jurors respond, “Yes”) I next ask, “Let me guess, your thought at the time was, “Why are they arresting that sweet innocent person?” Many jurors laugh at loud after hearing me say that. I then say, “That’s not how you feel. Rather, you think, What did that guilty person do?” I then challenge them with the following, “Knowing that my client was one of those persons who once wore handcuffs and was brought to jail, just like those arrested persons you’ve seen in the past at the scene of a crime, how can you believe that he is innocent? (As the law requires) I study the looks on their faces. The ones who give me a, “You make a good point” look, I move to strike. The ones who fire back with, “Well, just because their arrested and handcuffed doesn’t mean their guilty,” are the jurors who I want to hear the case.
The feeling of fighting for an innocent client and ultimately being able to get the charges dropped by prosecutors is a spectacularly rewarding experience that is almost indescribable. I feel like I’ve been a part of something wonderful. My feeling after jurors acquit my innocent clients is a bit different. Instead of feeling relief after the not guilty verdict, I am often consumed with anger. I think, “You see prosecutor? This case never should have gone to trial. You should have dropped these charges. My client shouldn’t have gone through the extraordinary financial and emotional strain of a trial. You should have done the right thing months ago when I passionately pleaded with you and shared evidence that supported innocence.”
After I get charges dropped or obtain an acquittal for an innocent client, I am typically not given the response from the client and/or client’s family that you might envision. Football coaches who win the big game are hailed as heroes and may receive the triumphant “Gatorade Shower.” The basketball players who make the clutch winning shots often are rewarded with high fives and hugs. Even the actor who is merely nominated for the Oscar is invited to the most happening parties in town and is showered with accolades. When I win a case for an innocent client, typically the reaction, even before the occasional “thank you,” is, “Ok, now who can we sue?” That’s followed by, “They never should have put me through this hell. Can we at least sue to get back all the attorney fees I had to pay you?”
So, give me a guilty client, any day. The passion and energy that I put into defending that case is no different than for the innocent client, however, as you now know, things can be very different. Some rare days I do wonder why I never became a football coach.