Court Martial Defense Lawyer on Representing Guilty Clients: How do defense lawyers sleep at night?

44 thoughts on “Court Martial Defense Lawyer on Representing Guilty Clients: How do defense lawyers sleep at night?”

1. I'm sorry, but, if you know your client to be guilty, your only duty is to try to get as lenient a sentence as possible. Beyond that, you have a greater duty to society to make sure they are punished.
   Period.

2. What ur saying makes perfect sense, but my question is, if jeffrey dumher admitted to the crime, n actively seeks you as his lawyer, cuz a seial child * offender admited to u what he did. How doyou go about it?

3. That was a honest and comprehensive answer. I'm sure the people who asked the question in the title will be well-informed if they watch this video. The question isn't a dumb one, as long as the people who asked the question wanted to learn something they didn't already know.

4. Looking at your phone while driving, what?

   Unless your phone is used as a GPS navigator and it's attached to your rear-view mirror, or something, there must be no reason whatsoever for you to look at your phone and run someone over while you're at it: many roads have no sidewalks, many bicyclists neglect using the lights they can buy to make the bike more visible in the dark, etc… You name it.

   The bottom line is: if you're a driver, you must keep your eyes on the road at all times and looking at your GPS should take no more that half a second.

   Drive safely.

5. I was fully aware of the rights, as they are laid out in the Constitution, that I, and every other American, have. That did not stop me from asking this question. In fact, that is exactly WHY I was curious about the answer a defense attorney would give. My curiosity is peaked by the potential for impropriety and by situations that have vastly different outcomes when based on the integrity of the individuals involved. So, to me, this is not an accusatory question of "How could you?" Rather, it is simply a question of "Why do YOU?" For some, I'm sure the entirety of their desire to work as a criminal defense attorney is monetary, while others do it because they believe in the system, or rather the documentation by which the system was built, and I would assume most fall somewhere in the middle. Either way, I enjoyed the video, I liked the way you laid out your reasoning for it, but I found the absence of curiosity a bit off putting as you never questioned the intentions behind the question, simply taking it at face value and not addressing the fact that, much like working as a criminal defense attorney, the intentions vary from individual to individual, but most have the same underlying reasoning, only the degree by which that motivates them changes.

6. 👍🏾👍🏾✊🏾✊🏾

7. I like tis guy

8. I hope you see this, because this video doesn't cover why I find this topic controversial. I understand that every citizen deserves to be treated fair when it comes to law. but my problem begins in cases like Travis Alexander for example. the defense team is saying it was actually a self defense case when there's 29 stab wounds, a slit throat, one gun shot wound on the victim. the victim also goes by saying, she was abused for her whole life by her family, which her family in court, denies all of this. but her defense team keeps supporting this argument. in this case, there's at least a 50/50 chance that the defendant is lying, and lawyers are not investigators. if lawyers can not lie, how can they take this strong possibility as their main defense strategy? I'm curious about this. thank you if you read this so far and sorry for the long comment.

9. It isn't a dumb question when some defense lawyers claim their clients are their babies and they love them knowing they are sexual predators and ruin innocent lives.

10. Police and detectives are often grossly biased, with no actual safety mechanisms for innocents. I went through this myself.

11. You made some points but your answer is not really satisfying. You address this question like it is a legal one, although it's a moral one. I believe most people are well aware of the fact that people have the right for legal defense. And you are also right about that sometimes good people get into trouble by chance or bad luck and not bad will. And there are situations where someone who is innocent gets charged. But what about those criminals that defense lawyers represent who have priors, criminals that lawyers know for a fact they are involved in criminal activity that harms innocent people?

12. best defense is based on clients money….Ask OJ

13. So much gaslighting…
    You know this wasn't the question. People aren't asking about lawyers being there to guarantee fairness for their client. People are asking why lawyers spin absurd stories when their client is clearly guilty as shown by solid evidence.
    Allow me to bring up the horrendous case of Jodi Ann Arias as an example: She murdered her love interest in cold blood and her defense spun a story about him being a domestic ab-s-r, a p-ed-p-ile and how he initiated the violence by attacking her for dropping his camera etc.
    This is the question! How can they sleep after doing that?!
    This isn't guaranteeing a fair outcome for their client. This is blatantly lying and to misrepresent what happened.

14. Wait until someone you help to get out, who have taken innocent lives, meets your own family and then you will start to care, this is crazy and it’s a job I would never do, you helping a killer to get out and go kill some more innocent people

15. You don’t care if you defend someone who took a child’s life or a innocent human being? You gonna go to hell man

16. For those dumb people attacking him , you really think the prosecutor are good one ? See it yourself when you face fasle allegations. The prosecutor will try their best to only present evidence to make you convicted as best as they can , not because justice, but because their personal motivation to win the case to make themself look good and smart , and for their future promotion . So it is a fair game from both side .

17. "3rd grade civics class" 😂 imagine being so logically intelligent but so emotionally unintelligent that you insinuate your target demographic to watch a video you spent time making for them is more ignorant than a 3rd grader. Loved your mocking little voice at the end there too. Ironically enough, that's exactly the behaviour I'd expect from my 3rd grader.
    Thanks for the info Mr. Foxworthy. I agree with your point but if you speak to a jury that way, they're going to convict your client out of sheer annoyance of you.

18. Thanks for the content, i always asked myself how it was for a laywer to defend bad people, and never think of it that i only heard one side of the story.

19. Good explanation. I have no problem with defense attorneys … Found the condescending tone a bit off-putting though.

20. Haha what an ass. “Go back to civics class, around the third grade level”. Nice tone to set immediately after your intro 😂 obviously people understand the constitutional aspect, it’s the “but who would really be ‘that person’ who would not only approve the job morally, but to thrive in that role?” is what people mean.

    Narcissism is clearly co-morbid with DA requirements.

21. I would like you to explain your defense when the person is really quilty of a heinous crime. Example:
    The two women who really did beat a toddler to death. How would you feel when you have to look at
    the coroner's photos of how serious the beating was that caused the child's death. Emotionally how
    do you deal with that? When you get home, in your quiet times, how do you psychologically handle
    the real evidence that is shown? How do you separate your emotions that rise from seeing the outcome
    of that particular crime from defending them with your all?

22. Damn, I'm not even in trouble but I'd hire this guy.

23. Wow, what a scumbag. He has no morals.

24. People mistake the role of the lawyer for the role of judge and jury.
    The role of the lawyer is not to determine innocence or guilt; it's to represent their client and provide them legal counsel.
    Listen to what this man says between 3:00–6:00 carefully. That's the job.

    Read the constitution. Everyone has a right to legal counsel.
    Many lawyers don't get the luxury of choosing their clients every time.

25. Question t9 you vhow you become a lawyer as well

26. long story short: money

27. “I’m a criminal defense lawyer” Basically, I’m a walking get out of jail free card, that is yours at the right price

28. Thank you for your service and mentality I just wish you practiced in ca

29. Your client is charged with rape. At some point he tells you that he really did it and that he doesn't intend to stop doing it. Would you keep representing him? I guess when people ask you that question about being able to sleep at night, that's what they wanna know. Defending someone who killed someone accidentally is way different than defending someone who committed a hideous crime such as rape. So… tell me… would you keep defending him?

30. You want the worst criminals to have the best representation to stop them winning an appeal for ineffective assistance of counsel. Also, look at Ronnie O'Neil and Trevor Summers – two absolute monsters who represented themselves and so got another chance to traumatise their victims by cross-examining them on the witness stand. I contend that it would have been far less traumatising and far more impersonal if the victims had been cross-examined by a lawyer acting with respect and professionalism.

31. How do they sleep at night because its a job they do not there life style (frankly i dont like that you titled this vedio like that) in other words say a murderur got off but people knew the person was guilty then the family of the deceased and the world was angry and now with social media everyone just Slanders the defence lawyer your putting blam on the lawyer not the murderer

32. Do you talk to the lawyer before a crime

33. Sounds a lot like…."I gotta get paid man "

34. It's not the same as a doctor treating someone for a gunshot wound. It's getting a guilty person off the hook. Certain rights to a defense are revoked when guilty.

35. There isn't any justification for defending someone who is known to commit the crime to get off.
    I understand someone who looks guilty getting a defense because people do get framed…circumstantial evidence. This isn't about that.
    It's about KNOWING they are guilty and your job is to try and get them out of it.
    That's the issue. Just saying "everyone has a right to a defense" isn't true simply because you say they are. Even appealing to the Constitution proving a guilty person has a right to hire someone to get them off the hook doesn't make it true or a good thing.

36. How do you feel after say, aggressively attacking a rape victim on the stand? Or a victim of an assault?

37. I do defense paralegal work in the Army. It's infuriating to see innocent people get railroaded, but sometimes you get someone you know did wrong. However, the government is just violating due process left, right, and center. If the accused is guilty, there's no excuse for stepping outside of the facts and the law. Don't break the law while claiming to uphold the law.

38. Appreciate the explanation, but still it seems that once your have seen enough evidence against your client and have the opinion they are guilty you might be upholding the constitution, but would also be working to prevent the individual being justly punished for their crime. But I guess by that point you would have no option, but to continue serving the client.

39. Though I understand what you are saying, I still find it repulsive when a Lawyer defends someone who is clearly guilty of a crime. I just watched a Lawyer defend a woman who murdered her own child, and then tried to claim the woman's father sexually and physically abused both her and the child. It was an obvious lie, but she got away with murder. I don't know how you can live with yourself after letting someone like that go free. OJ Simpson is another example. Most of what I say likely comes from emotion and not logic.. Someone who stands by and does nothing while a crime happens is considered part of the crime, it's hard to feel that's fair when the Lawyers will make up lies, slander the innocent, let people get away with murder, just to pad their bank accounts. You must need an extreme lack of morals to be able to disconnect entirely from causing so much destruction and still claim "It's just my job".
    In the end though, I'd be truly grateful if I was falsely accused and had one person stand by defending me with everything they have. It's just hard watching terrible people get away with terrible things.

40. This shed some light on some of my questions and I totally understand that it's your job to zealously defend people especially if there's the possibility that it's a false accusation or the charges are too harsh but I still don't understand how you could defend someone who clearly from the start committed a horrible crime and may have even confessed and was totally honest about it. Imagine the hate you would receive if you either got them a no guilty verdict or at least got them a lesser sentence than they deserved. Again I understand it's your job but I think there has to be a certain point where if someone is clearly without any shadow of a doubt whatsoever that they committed some horrible crime like mass murder or rape then they automatically should have no defense at all. If I was a defense attorney and its was extremely obvious a client raped others especially children or committed brutal murders and may have even confessed about it then I would withdraw from the case and would gladly take the heat for doing so since I could not in any circumstance defend a horrible person like that.

41. I see it like this. If a defense attorney doesn't do their best even with the "obviously guilty", then where is the line where they start doing their best? Countless people have been wrongly convicted in large part because they had incompetent or otherwise inadequate defense.

42. But what if the lawyer knows for sure that the person commited a murder or a rape and then see them lie in court? They help them get away without punishment, leaving them to roam and walk around doing this to others…

43. How do you sleep at night defending the rights of rapists, serial killers, pedophiles, child and baby murderers, torturers and the most despicable, depraved, heinous, perverted and evil individuals that there are in the world? Answer: $$$$

44. How do defense lawyers defend people like Nickolas Cruz. Even his own lawyers are sitting there crying during victim's family statements. Very difficult.

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