Public Defenders: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2015
- The Miranda warning includes the right to a public defender. It doesn’t include the fact that public defenders are highly overworked and grossly underpaid.
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As a Public Defender, my life is miserable. I feel awful seeing my clients not get the representation they deserve. There's nothing more I can do because I have so many cases. I'm paid pennies for six-figure work. I'm proud that I am helping the defenseless, but I"m not sure how much longer I can do this.
I pled guilty to a crime I didn't commit because my PD refused any other course. He is now in prison in MI for hiring a hitman to kill another lawyer. He scheduled my hearing in a middle school auditorium full of kids, parents and teachers. I was accused of buying beer for minors, which I had not done. He he said "I am not going to defend you on THAT charge in front of THIS audience. The only way to avoid jail is to plead guilty. " He could have had the hearing in a court room but chose the school because he was running for prosecutor. A farce, that's on my record forever. Thanks for talking about this issue.
Someone (that I know) stole my I.D. a few years back and then got busted with marijuana possession in Westminster Colorado. When the cops picked him up, he used my I.D. got ticketed in my name and released. Then when no one showed up to the court date a warrant was put out for my arrest. I spent 2 weeks in jail, went before a judge, and got a public defender. The public defender did everything he could to try and convince me to take a plea deal. When I told the public defender that it wasn't me, he started telling me stuff like "look, if you take a plea deal, I can probably get you released today. You'll serve 1 month incarcerated at the most." I told him again it wasn't me, he responded, "If you fight this, you're looking at up to 2 years. Do you want to spend 2 years in jail?" I told him again it wasn't me, but at that point I was so scared of doing 2 years in jail, I almost took the plea. I was shaking and so afraid that if there was any kind of mixup or if anything went wrong I would be locked up for 2 years for something I didn't do. I was afraid, but I told him again, "look man! It wasn't me. I wasn't there. Someone stole my identity!" and he said "Well, ok, if this is how you want to proceed then..." and had an attitude like "your funeral kid". He walked up to the judge, they opened up the case file, and right there on the front page was the mugshot of the person they had charged. OBVIOUSLY being not fucking me, they dropped the charges then and there on the spot and I was released within 24 hours. This happened to me in Westminster Colorado in about 2007. Out of everything that had happened, to this day, I will never forget how hard that public defender was pushing and trying to scare me into pleading guilty. So much so that I almost pleaded guilty to a crime that I KNEW I hadn't committed because I was afraid of going to jail for 2 years.
Why are there so many dumb legal issues here in America where we pretty much fine poor people for being poor? It's disgusting and needs to stop ASAP.
THIS IS AMERICA, WHERE IT'S A CRIME TO BE POOR AND THE PENALTY IS DEBTOR'S PRISON.
I'm sorry, that Judge yelling at that Public Defense Attorney and challenging him to a fight just infuriates me. It was beyond unprofessional. He is a disgrace to his public office and a disgrace as a human being. I hope he loses his job and never holds such a place of authority again.
This segment won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming.
No video today?
public pretenders
This show should be called "Reasons to not live in the U.S."...
"of course it was florida, how could it not be florida?!"
Before I even watch this, I already know how fucked up the public defender situation is in this country. Even still, I expect a few horrifying surprises.
I am a law student and was assigned to watch this video for one of my classes!
Holy crap, never knew some states charged for a public defender who "will be appointed to you free of cost". Don't know how people can say the system is perfect
The clip with the judge yelling at the defense attorney is terrifying.
I love how he gets A list actors to do his scenes for this. Makes me respect them.
Okay that judge clip, whoa
I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP, LAST WEEK TONIGHT.
"Come on guess."
I worked as a "panel attorney" in a jurisdiction with no public defender and then became a federal defender. One problem that you don't raise in this segment is that District Attorneys and US Attorneys overcharge in order to have ammunition to gain an advantage in plea negotiations. For example, a case that is basically a conspiracy to sell marijuana will be "upgraded" to include money laundering charges for every time the defendant sent a check or money order to his family. Any crime the DA or US Atty can think of will be charged and by the time you see your client, 90% of them have already confessed to committing the crime. I never urged anyone to plead who told me they were innocent, or had given a false confession. (It happens). I agree that these systems are pitifully underfunded and under-resourced, but that's just one part of the whole problem. Thank you for bringing these issues to focus.