People often ask how I could possibly defend a person I know to be guilty.
First of all, I often don't know if a person is guilty or innocent. Often, crimes have multiple witnesses, any number of whom may be lying or padding the facts. Even when witnesses are telling the truth, they may not have seen everything or missed something. Facts aren't always what they appear to be. Seemingly guilty individuals are proven innocent all the time, and even guilty people may not be as guilty as at first glance.
Secondly, attorneys argue facts, judges and/or juries try them. It isn't my job to decide if a person is innocent or guilty. Attorneys don't decide if a person is guilty or not, and then argue their case. A person comes to them with a problem, and they advocate a solution.
Last, and most importantly, without defense attorneys, a justice system would surely fail. The two most important tenants of our justice system are treating like cases similarly, and keeping people from taking the law into their own hands. If nothing else, defense attorneys ensure this by acting as a check on judges, police officers, and prosecutors. They also are often the only thing between their clients and a public "lynch mob".
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