Are Prosecutors all evil?
 

The outcome of the Duke Lacrosse case lends credence to the idea that prosecutors are, as a class, evil. A necessary evil, but evil all the same. As one who places paramount importance on liberty, I tend to subscribe to that notion as a prophylactic measure if nothing else. Voracious ambition, evangelism, and the awesome power and limitless finances of the state are a scary combination. If one of my sons were involved in this, after I cuffed him up side the head I'd try to strangle the prosecutor with my bare hands. It will be fun to see if the original DA on the case gets disbarred.

Cue UtahDan to come in and correct my facts.

Are they any less evil than defense attorneys?

I certainly thought so when I worked in the public defenders office.

Most defense attorneys are saints who have taken a vow of poverty to try to save the very poor and wretched. You don't hear much about them on Geraldo.

Defense attorneys truly believe and protect the system whereas prosecutors there seek to violate it all the same. The devils own work as prosecutors, whereas God's angels work as defense attorneys.

Amen Brother Archea.

What about ACLU attorneys? :)

It always warms my heart when I hear a bunch of lawyers extolling the virtues of their brothers. Kind of like a bunch of whores sitting around, complimenting their sisters who give twenty dollar blow jobs because they're just looking out for the working man.

This will sound hokey and hard to believe, but when I worked in the PD office I honestly felt like I was the last bastion of liberty in the criminal justice system. Most of my clients were low-lifes and reprobates and probably deserved punishment for something if not for the particular crime of which they were accused. No one looked out for them and no one wanted to help them and the cops were frequently sloppy or 'creative' in their reports and claims and yet no one cared and the DAs seemed to only worry about win/loss percentage. If the PD didn't protect the rights of these people, no one would and if this class of people was lost to the rights in our system, how long would it be before those abuses creep upward to the rest of us? You don't need evil DAs for this to happen, you only need zealousness, and the DAs frequently have more zeal than they have sense. So even though SU and Arch poke sly fun at the notion, I think we ALL owe a debt to PDs and the work they do (and the pay SUCKS).

Amen brother creek'. Telling it like it is.

My property professor clerked for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart; was a summa at Yale. Could have written his ticket, and was a D.C. PD for twelve years (making peanuts) before going to teach at Georgetown. There are a lot of defense lawyers like that.