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>> Here is something I wrote this morning —still needs editing —that I would use if I was Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ….to respond to anyone on the judiciary committee who attacks her for having been a public defender.
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>> I was a line public defender my entire career. This means I never managed other lawyers. Management would never have allowed me to formally train other public defenders since I was considered a “true believer” and was known for being relentless in my cross examination of police officers to the great displeasure of the judges, district attorneys, my own office and of course the cops who faced me in what some considered my endless cross examination of cops.
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>> And of course I would never stipulate to drug results or any other prosecution evidence all to the great displeasure of the DA, the courts, and my own office. Failure to stipulate of course meant that the proceedings inevitably took much longer that the production line criminal injustice system could tolerate.
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>> So, as you might guess, I became very familiar with cops lying on the witness stand almost daily. Before preliminary examinations which I handled thousands of over my career….and court and jury trials I spent obsessive amounts of time reading and rereading police reports to find any basis to impeach the cop on the witness stand and expose the officer’s habit and custom of lying under oath.
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>> Almost every criminal case has cops testilying and judges know this and DA’s know this and, with rare exception, the judges and DA’s pretend the cops are not lying and look the other way.
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>> Often I would distract the jury from the bad or very bad evidence against my clients by focusing on essentially putting the cop on trial for their numerous lies in their police reports and their previous lies under oath.
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>> I never understood why a cop would feel compelled to lie in cases where the evidence against my client was overwhelming and with their unnecessary lies and bad attitudes towards me while on the witness stand …I now had the chance to obtain a Not Guilty verdict not because my client was factually innocent…. but because the jury hated the lying cop.
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>> Moral to the story: if I was training cops to testify … I’d tell them to just tell the truth don’t let your desire to lie on the stand cause the DA to lose his or her case. For many cops in my experience they just can’t help themselves—the lying is like part of their DNA. Sad but true!!
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>> I remember after one very long trial 5-7 weeks the the lead detective for the DA out of the Santa Clara Police Department ( looked like Dennis Burns’ twin brother) was so angry about the way I treated him during cross examination, closing argument, the entire trial…that he told the DA -a decent guy( who later told me the story)-that I was so over the top as a defense attorney —that he would rather shoot me than talk to me.
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>> Of course I took this as a great compliment-knew I had upheld my constitutional duty to be a zealous unrelenting advocate with an undivided loyalty for my client.
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>> I’ve been often asked how can you do that work knowing your client may be guilty of horrible crimes. My answer is officer or ordinary citizen when you are charged with a crime or two I’m betting you will come running my way asking if I can represent you.
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>> It’s all about defending the constitution whether I’m defending a member of the Aryan brotherhood, a rogue cop, an ordinary citizen —no matter what they should all receive the full measure of the constitution. I hope this is some help.
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>> aram
