James A. Donald wrote:
He who pays controls. If someone is charged with a politically sensitive crime, and he has a court appointed attorney, then he has two prosecutors and no defense.
Very likely Mcviegh is guilty, but I could have defended him better, and so could my dog.
Amen!!! More money was spent on McVeigh's defense than on O.J.'s prosecution. For fifteen million dollars, McVeigh's lawyer couldn't be troubled to raise his voice in his client's defense. I'm not Lee Fucking Bailey, but I've defended myself successfully in court on a variety of occassions after firing attorneys who charged me big bucks to advise me to plead out charges I was not guilty of committing. There are a handful of lawyers I respect as having the skill and the integrity to properly defend me to the max, but I wouldn't give you two cents for McVeigh's government-bought schill. McVeigh's conviction was a given, no matter how skilled an attorney he had representing him. That's how it works at that level. The role of McVeigh's attorney was to placate the American people's sense of "justice" without rocking the boat. He didn't upset the American people, he didn't upset the judge, the prosecutor, his golfing buddies, or the court house restroom attendant. He did upset me, however, and that might turn out to be a big mistake on his part.