It’s sad, the end of critical thinking. Nobody thinks any more. They only react. Knee jerks. Yes, pun intended.
When I read the comments to this blog, I am reminded of Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the guy who wrote 1984. He had a clue about the Future, let’s face it.
In Animal Farm life boils down to one basic axiom: “Four legs good. Two legs bad”.
Hopefully, that is self-explanatory, but given the cluelessness of the comments to my last post, I will explain that people have two legs and farm animals have four. It’s meant to be an allegory.
It sounds like the opposing sides on the Trump debate. JUST like them, in fact. Nobody can be bothered to think anymore. “Four legs good. Two legs bad” is not exactly a deeply analytical debate now, is it? And it’s pretty close to “Trump good, Trump bad.”
Not that I don’t understand. People are being inundated by falsehoods and lies and distortions from all quarters. From both sides. Take the Trump case discussed in my prior blog, the Documents case I’ll call it (and no doubt draw tons of rants about using such a loaded and biased term as “documents”, oh MY!)
I said very clearly that DELAY is the name of the game for all Criminal Defense Attorneys. In EVERY case, with only a very few exceptions to that rule. It is how it’s done. Period. I said so in my blog. And it came to pass. Gosh. Maybe I actually do know something about how this all works.
I tell every client the same thing. “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” is a phrase that judges and prosecutors like. They want to convict everyone and toss them in jail ASAP. We defense lawyer types say: “Justice Delayed is Justice.” Why?
Cases improve with time. First and foremost, the more time the lawyers have to prepare a decent argument the better that argument becomes. It takes time to work on motions, and cross exams and arguments. Time is on the side of the Defense. In every single case. It’s basic.
But, no. The media has seized upon the fact that Trump’s lawyers are actually doing something competent for a change, by asking the Court to Continue the trial date, as if it is some sort of devious, sleazy trick. Seriously? I have never had a Federal case where I was not in court, usually MULTIPLE times, begging to set over trial dates. And, at least in Seattle, I prevailed on every single one of those requests. I NEVER went to trial on the first trial date set. I have done that ONE TIME in decades of trying serious Felonies. And that one time it totally backfired; I admit it. (It was not my idea; I’ll leave it at that.)
Why do we always want more time? Because it’s Due Process. It gives Defendants TIME TO PREPARE FOR TRIAL. It’s not a sin to ask for time to get ready on a major case with tons of Discovery and multiple legit Pre-Trial Motions to argue. It’s malpractice to not ask for more time.
So, what we have here is equal opportunity cluelessness. Instead of seeing how this trial is being handled, in terms of how normal cases are handled, people only see their own blind rage. Here a Continuance is almost mandated. Just think of how the classified documents are going to be handled in court. Motions on that issue alone could take weeks, if not months. That does not even take into account of the logistics involved in obtaining Security Clearances not only for the lawyers involved, but also paralegals and jurors and anyone else who handles the “Evidence”, including court clerks I suspect. Even the judge should be cleared, frankly.
Beyond that there could be endless motions to suppress any confidential or privileged information that is being used as Evidence. There will doubtless be a Motion to Dismiss for Selective Prosecution. The list is literally endless. Not to mention that every ruling could be challenged by filing Interlocutory Appeals. That alone can take months.
Thus, the defense lawyers are simply being defense lawyers here. It has zero to do with who the client is, and whether people like him or not, other than the fact that the Presidential campaign is yet another reason to request a Continuance of the trial date. It’s a valid motion, and whether you do or do not like Trump makes no difference. Why? Because it’s about the Rule of Law, stewpud. 🙂
That should draw some angry rants! (And I didn’t even mention the new target letter Trump just received regarding January 6th. That can wait until my next post. “It’s gonna be wild.”)