BAD Prosecutors

There is no shortage these days about stories of law enforcement getting busted for DWI. As a DWI lawyer these stories of course attract my attention. Anytime a prosecutor, judge, or cop gets arrested, criminal defense attorneys will laugh about it. Heck, everyone will laugh because you can't beat the irony. Maybe we won't laugh out loud, but we will laugh. I used to think it was significant enough when local cops, judges, or prosecutors got arrested to keep track. I used to keep a file labeled the "Folder of Shame". Everyday, I would add another newspaper clipping related to the arrest of a local prosecutor, cop, judge, or anyone working the other side of the fence. I wonder today why I engaged in that practice. I think it may have been a bit on the immature side. But I also think it made me feel better about the work I was doing. Prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges...we are all humans and we all make bad decisions at some point in our lives.

I have been following the discussion regarding the arrest of Harris County Texas Prosecutor Lester Blizzard for DWI. Lester's buddy, Murray Newman, recently started practicing criminal defense in Houston after backing the wrong horse in a contested election for DA in Harris County. He lost his prosecutor job and did what every other fired or laid off prosecutor does..he hung out the criminal defense shingle.

I think that prosecutors turn criminal defense lawyers do pretty well in business. After all, isn't criminal defense all about connections? In addition to learning all the "tricks" we criminal defense attorneys have up our sleeves, they know people and have been around the court house long enough to know how to do a good job. Apparently Murray Newman is such a good trial lawyer that he got two not guilty verdicts at trial on the same day. I must say I am impressed.

For some lawyers, the transition between criminal defense and prosecution is easy. I know a few lawyers who prosecute in one county and defend in another. At this point in my life I can honestly say I could never be a prosecutor. Maybe that makes me un-professional. Maybe this post will disqualify me from employment when I may desperately need it someday. But today, I will say that I don't think I could ever work for the executive branch unless I could pick and choose my cases. But prosecutors don't have that luxury. The law is the law, whether you think it is stupid or not. If you believe certain laws are fundamentally wrong, than you have to sell your soul to prosecute them. I often hear judges and prosecutors lament about the unfairness of laws only to follow up with the fact that they have a duty to enforce all laws, bad or not. That is where my problem lies. I am passionate about what I do. Most of my time is spent defending people against the prosecution of laws that I think are offensive to humanity.