Morality In Defending The Guilty

6 Pages 1479 Words

On June 12, 1994, the entire United States was glued to the television. One famous man had been arrested with the brutal stabbing murders of his ex-wife and her estranged lover. This famous man seemed clearly guilty. He was soon enough presumed “guilty” because he was at the scene of the crime, and because of the evidence gathered, fingers were pointed at him: he had no where to run. The press was in the sky, in his trees, and at his door, hounding him for a statement. He went on to hire the best possible attorneys he could. He knew his case would be a difficult one to prove. The defense lawyers with their lives on hold spent endless hours studying the case and gathering the facts. Many times the defense was labeled “disturbers of the peace”, due to the belief that they were lying to cover up their client. The testimonies of witnesses took nine months and encompassed almost 120 people, Forty-five thousand pages of evidence and more than one thousand exhibits (CNN, pg 1). a year and half later the defendant, O.J. Simpson, walked away a free man, thanks in part to the legal system that defended him. This is what being a defense lawyer is all about, doing whatever it takes to defend your clients rights set forth by the constitution.
Becoming a lawyer is no easy task. It requires years of academic and practical training, devotion and a desire to attain that goal. To become a lawyer in the U.S. you must have graduated from an American Bar Association (ABA) certified college. Then you must take the “Bar” exam, a six-hour 200 question test. Then comes one of the biggest decisions, to prosecute or to defend. Prosecuting lawyers are generally representing the government in criminal cases, and in civil cases they represent the client bringing the charge. The job of the prosecution is to present the case against the defendant. To inform the jury of the charge they are trying to expound on the defendant, and to convince the j...