David_Benowitz

The decriminalization of marijuana has not had an effect on my caseload in particular. But, I agree and believe that marijuana should be decriminalized, both because of its proven medicinal benefits and because it has been used to justify unconstitutional actions by law enforcement for several generations.

The short answer is no. One of the key purposes of my job is to represent someone to the best of my ability. Whether they committed the act that they are accused of is irrelevant to that goal. The whole point of the criminal justice system is that every person gets the best representation possible.

For example, I've had many cases where I've represented people who had committed one of the ten acts they were charged with by the government.

When I first started out as a public defender, I represented a 7 year old who had been accused of brandishing a weapon at school. He turned up to court in a Dora the Explorer backpack.

There are two cases that come immediately to mind. THe first is a Supreme Court case called Booker in which the Supreme Court decided that the mandatory nature of U.S. sentencing guidelines was unconstitutional. THat presented a sea change in federal sentencing law.

The second case is Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. That came out in 2009. The Supreme Court held that the prosecutor in a criminal case can't use sworn affidavits to substitute for witness testimony in a criminal case. That changed the way criminal cases, particularly drug cases or cases involving DNA evidence, are presented by the government. Before this case, the government would try to use sworn certificates to prove authenticity of drugs that had been seized. This case held that that procedure was unconstitutional, because it didn't allow for the defense to cross-examines who had taken the action that led to the creation of these affidavits.

I would look for someone who is an extremely hard worker, who specializes in criminal defense work, and is accessible. The last thing you want to do is hire someone to represent you in a criminal case who, for example, is the cousin of a friend who is primarily a real estate lawyer that sometimes takes on criminal cases.

It's sort of like picking a surgeon who is going to operate on you. You need to be very sure they have the experience and skill before you let them cut you.