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March 24, 2006
The Ohio Public Defender and Ethics Issues
I've stated twice before that I'm not a big fan of the Ohio Public Defender's Office. I believe, well, I know, that I've said it is my opinion that members of that office are horrific assholes.
I believe everybody deserves to be defended in a court of law. There are probably people out there who are accused of crimes they didn't commit. People who can't afford to hire an attorney. The PDs office should do everything they can to help these people. (Well, maybe not the Ohio Public Defender's Office. Indigent criminals might want to commit capital crimes is states where the PD's office has a better reputation.)
There was never any question about David Brewer's guilt.
The OPD didn't spend 18 years trying to save an innocent person from lethal injection as they worked on Brewer's case. It simply seems to be their goal to do away with the death penalty. They think it's bad. It is soooo baaaad they feel they have the right to work outside the law to get things their way. They are damned near a Fox reality series.
Too friggin' bad if you've lost someone to murder. If it means that they'll have to malign the deceased, mislead the court and misrepresent facts (if you did the same things the action would simply be called "lying"), they're willing to go the extra mile. No matter how long it takes. AND ... they're willing to take your tax dollars to provide this disservice to you.
Not too terribly long after the execution I ran across an article detailing the unethical doings of the Ohio Public Defender's office. The format looked good. The details were laid out boom boom boom. Naturally, I can't find it now; I can't believe I don't have a copy on my hard drive.
One of the problems the OPD has run into involves some affidavits that have appeared suggesting that one of the murderers they were trying to save from the needle was not, in fact, a murderer. The affidavit states that Byrd (the accused) was too drunk to have killed the person he is accused of murdering; someone else did it.
The affidavit was signed by a guy named Pottinger -- after Byrd's sister showed up with a carload of beer and the promise of a night of tender lovemaking. Oh ... and she brought a girlfriend with her. Promise a guy sex and you can get him to say almost anything ... sex and beer?! Hell yeah! ... a three-way and beer and you can get him to say he's the only surviving 9/11 pilot.
Peter Bronson's Editorial from the Cincinnati Enquirer is reprinted here. The Byrd case is discussed.
Scroll down to Ohio: Trouble Brewing for public defender to read about one of the OPD members invoking his fifth amendment rights to stay out of trouble and the general mess that is the Ohio Public Defender's Office.
I have three boys. One never lies, one lies sometimes, one will lie to me out of simple reflex -- 75% of the time -- even if the truth is likely to bring nothing in the way of punishment. You can bet that when I ask the three "what happened" I weigh the explanations given to me according to the boy they came from. Good or bad their current actions are tainted by their past actions.
The same thing has got to be true for the OPD. Based on their past actions anything they say needs to be closely examined before it is taken as truth. This can't be good for the people they represent.
Posted by delmer at March 24, 2006 5:21 AM