Just because you did it doesn't make you guilty.
Once I asked a criminal lawyer how it feels to defend someone you know is guilty. His answer was: "My job as a lawyer isn't to prove that you didn't do it. It's to make the government prove that you did. To do that, I have to poke holes in everything the government puts forward, and interpret whatever story they build in a different way."
I liked the explanation that a lawyer's job is to make sure the defendant gets a fair trial. If the evidence then proves guilt, so be it.
A defense attorney's job is to hold the prosecution to honesty. It's to check whether the prosecution can truly prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime, whether the charges they filed match the crime actually committed, and whether the evidence against the defendant was legally obtained. You wouldn't want a thief convicted of murder, even if it's 100% certain they stole something.
Right, sending someone to prison should never be easy. The prosecution has to work hard for it. If you're on a jury, even if the defense's arguments are weak, you should still check whether the prosecution fulfilled its own responsibility and proved the case conclusively. If they didn't prove it, you shouldn't vote guilty.
It's similar to the lawyer who defended the guy in Florida who hit protesters with his car. He came up with nonsense arguments, partly because the client asked for them and partly so the client couldn't appeal later with the same nonsense.
Why should *you* go to jail for a crime *someone else* noticed?
Oh yes, you're Bob Roblo, the blogger. You talk a lot, sir.
That's true, though. The crime you committed and the charge brought against you aren't always the same.
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