How dare you claim cases are “indifferently argued?”
I worked as a public interest attorney in Louisiana for years, and to suggest public defenders are in any way indifferent is a gross offense to these dedicated individuals. There is a level of caring and commitment unlike that of any other law office I’ve ever encountered, metered (and perhaps cemented) by the fatalism of knowing there simply aren’t enough resources, and likely to be fewer tomorrow.
It was a Louisiana public defender who first argued “ineffective assistance of counsel” on appeal, when he had been the counsel in question for the first case. At that time, the total amount of time public defenders were allotted per client was measured in minutes, and I’m sure it’s not much better now. This is an agonizing position for someone who is tasked with zealously representing individuals who, by definition, have no other resort, and those willing and able to assume that responsibility should be celebrated.
Competition for these underpaid, unappreciated jobs is fierce among new lawyers, driven by a desire to help others and to develop mastery of the courtroom. While I don’t particularly agree with Steve Singer’s decision to mostly hire recent Ivy League graduates, anyone who doubts the competence or commitment of these professionals is simply showing off their own ivory tower.
It takes a spectacular level of dedication to hold a job this Sisyphean, and to suggest one could perform it with any level of indifference is a slap in the face to the people, the program, and the clients.
Before you start chuckling about backwards Southerners and incompetent public servants, I invite you to check your own privilege. The attorneys who do this job are highly educated, hugely dedicated, and most certainly not indifferent, in court or in life. They deserve your admiration and support. The clients whom they serve have literally no other advocate.
This lawsuit is just another attempt in a very longstanding struggle to confront the grotesque and unforgivable indifference of Louisiana’s state and public when it comes to putting people in prison, often for years, without a fair hearing. To suggest complicity on the part of the victims of that indifference betrays your ignorance.
