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Mistakes are made George, Without a DoubtBy Rick Horowitz
An optimistic man, our George W. Bush is, with a sunny disposition and a positive outlook. Even folks who don't like politicians like George W., because he's different from the rest: He tries to see the best in people. Lawyers, for instance. George W. tries to see the best in lawyers. Lots of politicians don't like lawyers very much; they'll call them money-grubbing vultures, or else they'll poke fun at them with some of those nasty lawyer jokes. Not George W. He knows that lawyers are doing the best they can. So if they mess up from time to time while they're handling a case -- hey, it happens. Sometimes it even happens in a murder case. George W. understands. He understands even when it happens in a murder case. Maybe some particular lawyer in some particular murder case didn't defend his client quite as effectively as he might have. George W. is sympathetic. He realizes that some of these lawyers don't have much experience in trying murder cases; they're in over their heads from the get-go. George W. doesn't condemn them for that, or criticize the verdicts that their shaky skills help produce. At least they're trying. Lots of them didn't even get to choose their clients. Lots of them had their clients assigned to them by some judge. So if a few of these lawyers are less than totally motivated on their clients' behalf -- hey, it happens. George W. understands. Then there are the lawyers who are overworked. George W. understands them, too. Lawyers are busy people, George W. knows, with plenty on their plates. So maybe they didn't have the time to dig all that deeply into some client's case, to find the holes in the prosecution's evidence, to come up with the solid alibi witness. What can you expect? Why, some of these lawyers are so exhausted, they can't even stay awake in court! Instead of objecting or cross-examining or doing something to try to keep their clients out of the electric chair, they're sitting there sawing wood. Hey, it happens. People get tired. George W. understands. And what about the pressure lawyers are under? Defending people accused of murder is no day at the beach, you know. So if a few of these lawyers turn to the bottle from time to time to take the edge off... Hey, George W. knows exactly where they're coming from. He used to like a little nip himself in his younger days. So no apologies necessary; lawyers are only human, just like the rest of us. At least the defendant wasn't sitting there all alone. And what about the police? What about the prosecutors? After all, that big new study of death-penalty cases doesn't talk only about incompetent defense attorneys. There's also plenty of hanky-panky on the other side -- coerced confessions, withholding of exculpatory evidence, using informers to eavesdrop on defendants' conversations with their lawyers, that sort of thing. Prosecutorial misconduct is another big reason, the study says, that two-thirds of all death sentences are overturned on appeal. Two-thirds! Hey, it happens. People, even law-enforcement people, occasionally cross the line. But George W. prefers to look on the sunny side. If the appeals courts keep finding all these problems in all these death-penalty cases -- well, that just shows how well the system is working. Only guilty people are executed in Texas, George W. insists, and every defendant has had "full access" to the courts. Does "full access" include a well-trained and highly motivated attorney, awake and sober, with the time and resources to mount the strongest defense possible? Or is that kind of "access" out of certain defendants' price range, even when their lives are at stake? You don't see many well-heeled murder suspects filling those cells on Death Row, do you? Probably just a coincidence. In Texas, George W. insists, the system is working perfectly well. They never make mistakes in Texas. And when they do, they catch every one of them. An optimistic man doesn't dwell on contradictions. Posted 6/13/00. Fresh
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Rick Horowitz