The vast majority of criminal defense cases are handled by court-appointed lawyers, that is, by lawyers from the local Public Defender’s Office or some similarly-named entity. The remainder, save for cases in which the defendant represents himself (which is seldom a good idea), are handled by private criminal defense counsel. Since most lawfully-armed private citizens who find themselves in need of criminal defense counsel are not financially eligible for government-appointed counsel (which is a good thing!), most will need to hire private defense counsel.
Regardless of whether a private or court-appointed defense attorney is used, standard criminal defense practice typically involves two factors that, from the outset, run contrary to the self-defense defendant’s best interests.
The first of these two factors is that criminal defense practice, both court-appointed and private practice, typically involves a high-volume case-load. Court-appointed defense counsel are often assigned so many cases that it simply is not possible for counsel to devote much time to each individual case. Accordingly, court-appointed defense counsel usually seek to negotiate a plea bargain for the vast majority of their clients.
Similarly, private defense counsel typically employ a business model where a flat-fee (paid at the beginning of the representation) is charged for all pre-trial legal work, with additional (often hourly) fees charged if the case goes to trial. Thus, baked into the fee contracts that are used by most private defense attorneys is a financial incentive for the attorney to do as little work as possible (e.g., plead the client guilty) in order to quickly “earn” the pre-trial flat-fee. By pleading a client guilty as early in the process as possible, the attorney is able to pocket his flat-fee and quickly move on to the next case, thereby using the flat-fee to maximize the attorney’s effective hourly rate (which may turn out be considerably higher than the attorney’s regular hourly rate).
Many private criminal defense lawyers might balk at this characterization of their business model; however, the economic facts speak for themselves.
The second of the two factors, which is related to the first factor, is that the criminal defense client (defendant) is usually presumed – not by the legal system, but by his attorney – to be guilty. The (usually unstated) reason for this is, of course, because the vast majority of criminal defendants did, in fact, commit the act(s) that constitute the charged, or a related, offense.
State and local police, as well as sheriff’s deputies, although far from perfect, generally do a pretty good job. That is, they usually don’t arrest factually-innocent people. Likewise, most state and local prosecutors typically do not prosecute people without a legal and factual basis for doing so. Accordingly, the criminal defense attorney’s assumption that his client is probably guilty of something is not, at least statistically, unreasonable.
Almost without exception, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and judges possess a law degree and have passed at least one bar examination. Thus, each of these participants in a self-defense criminal case can be assumed to have at least a passing familiarity with the defense of self-defense. However, it should not be assumed that these participants possess a working knowledge, and a true understanding, of the legal aspects of the defense of self-defense.
Lastly, the overwhelming majority of attorneys and judges are not “gun people.” Many may not own firearms and, even among those who do, most are likely not educated in the strategies and tactics of armed self-defense.
In summary, do NOT hire an attorney for a self-defense case who:
- Presumes that you committed a crime.
- Uses a fee contract that incentivizes pleading you guilty.
- Does not fully understand the law relating to self-defense; and
- Is not knowledgeable in the strategies and tactics of armed self-defense.
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