The United States pledge of allegiance closes "With Justice For All", Every American is familiar with the pledge and understands it to mean one's right to life, liberty, and Justice as an American Citizen is an inalienable right for all classes of people, from the richest to the poorest as one Nation under the GOD. Or is it?
18 January 2023 | Jesse Dreyfuse | NPA | National Public Awareness | Cabell County, West Virginia.
What America does not know is that Justice is reserved inky for those who can afford to retain private counsel and that Innocent lower classed citizens are 96 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted while being represented by a court-appointed public defender than those of the upper classes that can afford to hire private practice attorney.
The courts require that those being prosecuted be represented by counsel and that they be represented by 'competent' counsel, which means appointing some hack who, but for court appointments, who is such a dud that he or she could not otherwise find work will pass muster as counsel for the poor and destitute who have no means to hire a private lawyer.
Specializations in law have relegated criminal law to the ministrations of a small group of lawyers at the top of the profession ad to an incalculably larger group of lawyers at the bottom, There is no in between, Just as the classes of people, Public Defenders are the underclass who are tasked with representing the lower classes.
Public defenders are underqualified, overworked, underpaid, and not provided the resources necessary for a complete defense in criminal trial settings which is the fatal flaw of the American criminal justice system that has created prosecutorial overmatches for all defendants who can not afford to hire private counsel.
Because criminal law involves exclusively the processing of impecunious members of the underclass, insufficient money is at stake in any criminal case to attract prominent well-established lawyers, although a few white-collar criminals and a few drug dealers have enough money to hire a good lawyer, almost all criminal defendants are represented by court-appointed public defender attorneys.
Sometimes the Public Defenders are young, ambitious, intelligent, idealistic advocates, Most of the time, however, public defenders are simply hacks, some court-appointed lawyers are good, but every lawyer who finds that they can make vastly more money in other fields of law with never having to deal with the lower classed undesirables seek to avoid any type of court-appointed work.
In America's criminal justice system, not only does court-appointed work pay badly, with adequate funding never being appropriated by the State's legislature, Court appointed work is the 'minimum wage' task left for those lawyers who can not succeed in private practice and specialized fields of law.
Most public defenders aspire to become prosecuting attorneys, who also work for humbled wages compared to the successful private practice lawyers and most prosecuting attorneys aspire to become Judges after serving their tenure as a prosecutor who has built a reputation on the number of convictions secured through plea bargains and trials, "Get a conviction at any cost and let the pieces fall where they may" is the prosecutors' only goal, even at the expense of convicting innocent men and women.
The majority of wrongful convictions that have been overturned throughout the Nation are those of poor criminal defendants who were represented by court-appointed public defenders who were outmatched, unprepared, and overwhelmed with more appointed cases than any lawyer could possibly represent competently, More often than not public defenders push the indigent criminal client to enter into a plea agreement rather than to take the time necessary to investigate, research and prepare a viable trial defense, even when they are aware their client is innocent.
Every State guarantees that the Courts shall be open for every person, for any injury done them to their property, person, or reputation and shall have remedy by due process of law and that Justice shall be served without sale, denial, or delay, Unfortunately, those of the lower class who are wrongfully convicted are shelved and delayed access to the Courts for decades.
The reality is that any innocent defendant is infinitely better off appealing a Death sentence than a sentence of life imprisonment or less, As former Justice Bryer once stated; "Court's and State Governors are 130 times more likely to exonerate a defendant where a Death sentence is at issue, The capital convict will obtain endless legal assistance from the abolition lobby's and legal favoritism, while the lifer languishes behind bars".
Public defenders representing convicted defendants in proceedings challenging wrongful convictions are intimidated and controlled by the Judge they deal with on a daily basis, Afraid to challenge prosecutorial and Judicial misconducts and the procedural errors that rose to constitutional violations, they are unwilling to address the injustices in fear of their not being appointed future work by the Courts which they depend upon for their meager wages, " Never bite the hand that feeds you" is the controlling law over Public Defender Attorneys, Constitution be dammed and reserved for those of the upper classes.
Incredibly the careers built on the backs of wrongful convictions by so many prosecutor's across this country remain shadowed and silenced by the legal communities and criminal justice system that was originally designed to insure that all citizens from all classes were to be afforded the right of due process "With Justice For All", The brutal truth is that the criminal justice system is rampant with wrongful convictions.
Americans need to realize Justice is not for all, Justice is served to those who have the financial means to hire private counsel, The Constitutional provision that All Citizens shall have remedy by due process of law and that Justice shall be served without sale, denial or delay is a right reserved for those not of the lower underclasses.
America's best-kept secrets are the ones of the criminalized police, prosecutorial and Judicial misconducts committed to wrongfully convict innocent people, The scandals and corruptions that have permeated the American criminal justice system and County Courthouses are happening every day across America that will secure a conviction at any cost against another innocent person, Let the pieces fall where they may as another prosecutor builds his career on the backs of wrongful convictions, Lives are stolen and families are destroyed for the advancement of careers and social standings as the right of passage that always begins with a Court appointed public defender climbing the ladder to a Judgeship.
"Justice For All" does not hold true today in America, Put your faith and trust in the GOD, It is only by His Will that Justice will be served in the corrupted criminal justice system. Truth In Justice comes only by faith and submission to the GOD.
Jesse Dreyfuse is the co-founder of N.P.A. | National Public Awareness a justice advocacy group in West Virginia and is also an Author at Justice News. Read more at CTA Call to Action with Jesse Dreyfuse.