0 reactions
I asked my criminal law professor if a client ever scared him. His story haunts me to this day.
I get chills when I think about it. I changed certain details to make it harder to Google this case (I was able to find it when he initially told me this story), but there’s more truth in this than you want there to be.
I had a fantastic law school professor who was always exceptionally good to me. I was a bit of an odd ball and he took me under his wing. His wife Mary would come to school every Friday and the three of us would have lunch together. We got pretty close, and I noticed he was very protective of her.
My professor had been a public defense attorney for twenty years before he went into academia. He had a very good attitude about former clients and even visited a few in prison, including a few folks on death row.
He said you learned pretty quickly that most people are indeed guilty, but you also learned to separate clients from their crimes. Almost all of his homicide cases were gang related and he was a pretty big believer that most gang violence is done under duress. He was also a really big advocate for shorter sentences for minors and better rehabilitation programs. He said even folks who committed really heinous crimes and deserved life in prison would still have their humanity and tended to be easy to work with.
*My point is that although he was very realistic about how most folks are guilty, he wasn’t bitter.*
Once when I was doing research for him we had some free time. He always spoke so highly of his clients so I finally asked if he ever encountered an actual psychopath or someone who scared him.
This was his story…
For folks who don’t know, public defenders don’t have total control over their caseload. They develop a certain expertise, but a lot of them get assigned the cases they’re assigned.
Anyway, he got assigned a homicide case that was pretty fucking brutal. A woman has been mutilated while still alive, assaulted, and violently murdered. The photos were so bad that my professor got a little sick when he saw them. What’s worse is that it was almost certainly tied to two other cases with women who had also been mutilated, assaulted and killed. They had no physical evidence, but they narrowed down a suspect, a suspect who became my professor’s client.
The thing is, this client did not seem like the “type.” My professor had learned pretty early on that violent psychopaths usually have a trail violence in their history before they graduate to murder. He also noted that usually conventionally successful psychopaths did not commit violent crimes because they had worked so hard to acclimate without letting the “mask” slip.
*It should also be noted that before this story, he didn’t actually believe in a “mask.” He found his clients were pretty upfront with him about what crime they committed and why. He said most people who lied to him were pretty stupid.*
This guy was physically small, and had a wife and kids. He wasn’t wealthy, but he did have a good job and friends. He was exceedingly polite in their meetings and oddly soft-spoken. He also talked about how much he loved his daughters and was a feminist.
This guy was ADAMANT that he was innocent. My professor kind of shrugged it off. He didn’t spend to much time analyzing if someone was innocent or guilty, but rather what facts could be proven in court. Everything else was a waste of time.
Something about this guy and the crime he had committed didn’t make a lot of sense to my professor. Not only that, but the state had virtually no solid evidence. As time went on, my professor genuinely started to believe his client might be innocent and started going super hard on this case. He got a witness bared from testifying which really rattled the prosecution.
One of the things that convinced my professor the most of his client’s innocence was the way his client responded to seeing photos of the victims. They were going to be shown in court and my professor wanted him to be prepared.
The guy looked like he was going to throw up. He bent over a trash can and looked distraught.
He also just started rambling like he was experiencing a genuine, authentic trauma response. He just went off about how the girl’s ear was torn off and he kept imagining his wife in that position. He said something a little odd though…
“I don’t know why, but the fact that all the victims are blonde and my wife is brunette is getting to me. What if it could have been her if she had dyed her hair a different color?”
My professor stared at him with an open mouth, and for a moment he stopped being his attorney and was just a human. “My wife Mary is a Latina woman and I had the same thought when I saw these photos! Like, maybe it would have been her with just a twist of fate!”
He sincerely believed right then and there that his client was innocent. He had such a real, raw response.
Things changed when they were very close to the end of the trial. In a very rare move for a violent crime, the prosecutor actually realized she was likely to lose and offered a deal.
*Not a very good one, but attorneys have an obligation to tell their clients of any deal on the table.*
My professor’s client got very annoyed at this and kept announcing he was innocent. My professor actually still believed him at this point, but wanted to walk him through the options to be thorough.
Suddenly, the client’s demeanor changed. His hands started shaking as he looked at the table and mumbled about how “that prosecutor cunt” was just doing this to mess with him.
My professor was kind of taken aback because his client had been so respectful to everyone at that point, including folks on the opposing side. He understood the stress his client was under and tried to calm him down, assuring him that he had worked with that prosecutor a lot and she generally was fair. She might actually be worried that the sentencing would be too harsh in case they did lose this case. This was objectively a way to lower potential jail time.
His client looked up at him then with a face that almost knocked my professor over. My professor described his eyes as completely void and lifeless, like his client was looking straight through him.
According to my professor, he hasn’t really believed in evil until that day. He believed humans were complicated and could do monstrous things, but he didn’t believe anyone was evil. After this moment, he had a crisis and was shaken to his core.
My professor stuttered something about how he just wanted to look at the specifics of the deal to make an educated choice and his client cut him off.
Then, all of a sudden, it was like the old version client was back. He was immediately back to the timid, small man who spoke of how much he loved his wife and was a feminist for his daughters.
My professor was shaken though, and my client noticed. He grew increasingly hostile and started questioning every decision my professor made. My professor even considered asking to get off the case because it’s hard when a client has turned like that, but he worried a judge never would never allow a withdrawal this late in the trial.
Well, my professor’s client got off. Of course he did. Apart from a very questionable witness, they really didn’t have enough evidence to reach beyond reasonable doubt… Thanks to my professor doing a kickass job.
My professor tried to shake his client’s hand in the end, and his client just stared coldly at him and then smiled slightly. He mumbled something about how he would never forgive my professor for making a decision he disagreed with.
Two months later another murder occurred that fit the pattern of the previous attacks.
The woman who was murdered was a Latina woman also named Mary.
I get chills when I think about it. I changed certain details to make it harder to Google this case (I was able to find it when he initially told me this story), but there’s more truth in this than you want there to be.
I had a fantastic law school professor who was always exceptionally good to me. I was a bit of an odd ball and he took me under his wing. His wife Mary would come to school every Friday and the three of us would have lunch together. We got pretty close, and I noticed he was very protective of her.
My professor had been a public defense attorney for twenty years before he went into academia. He had a very good attitude about former clients and even visited a few in prison, including a few folks on death row.
He said you learned pretty quickly that most people are indeed guilty, but you also learned to separate clients from their crimes. Almost all of his homicide cases were gang related and he was a pretty big believer that most gang violence is done under duress. He was also a really big advocate for shorter sentences for minors and better rehabilitation programs. He said even folks who committed really heinous crimes and deserved life in prison would still have their humanity and tended to be easy to work with.
*My point is that although he was very realistic about how most folks are guilty, he wasn’t bitter.*
Once when I was doing research for him we had some free time. He always spoke so highly of his clients so I finally asked if he ever encountered an actual psychopath or someone who scared him.
This was his story…
For folks who don’t know, public defenders don’t have total control over their caseload. They develop a certain expertise, but a lot of them get assigned the cases they’re assigned.
Anyway, he got assigned a homicide case that was pretty fucking brutal. A woman has been mutilated while still alive, assaulted, and violently murdered. The photos were so bad that my professor got a little sick when he saw them. What’s worse is that it was almost certainly tied to two other cases with women who had also been mutilated, assaulted and killed. They had no physical evidence, but they narrowed down a suspect, a suspect who became my professor’s client.
The thing is, this client did not seem like the “type.” My professor had learned pretty early on that violent psychopaths usually have a trail violence in their history before they graduate to murder. He also noted that usually conventionally successful psychopaths did not commit violent crimes because they had worked so hard to acclimate without letting the “mask” slip.
*It should also be noted that before this story, he didn’t actually believe in a “mask.” He found his clients were pretty upfront with him about what crime they committed and why. He said most people who lied to him were pretty stupid.*
This guy was physically small, and had a wife and kids. He wasn’t wealthy, but he did have a good job and friends. He was exceedingly polite in their meetings and oddly soft-spoken. He also talked about how much he loved his daughters and was a feminist.
This guy was ADAMANT that he was innocent. My professor kind of shrugged it off. He didn’t spend to much time analyzing if someone was innocent or guilty, but rather what facts could be proven in court. Everything else was a waste of time.
Something about this guy and the crime he had committed didn’t make a lot of sense to my professor. Not only that, but the state had virtually no solid evidence. As time went on, my professor genuinely started to believe his client might be innocent and started going super hard on this case. He got a witness bared from testifying which really rattled the prosecution.
One of the things that convinced my professor the most of his client’s innocence was the way his client responded to seeing photos of the victims. They were going to be shown in court and my professor wanted him to be prepared.
The guy looked like he was going to throw up. He bent over a trash can and looked distraught.
He also just started rambling like he was experiencing a genuine, authentic trauma response. He just went off about how the girl’s ear was torn off and he kept imagining his wife in that position. He said something a little odd though…
“I don’t know why, but the fact that all the victims are blonde and my wife is brunette is getting to me. What if it could have been her if she had dyed her hair a different color?”
My professor stared at him with an open mouth, and for a moment he stopped being his attorney and was just a human. “My wife Mary is a Latina woman and I had the same thought when I saw these photos! Like, maybe it would have been her with just a twist of fate!”
He sincerely believed right then and there that his client was innocent. He had such a real, raw response.
Things changed when they were very close to the end of the trial. In a very rare move for a violent crime, the prosecutor actually realized she was likely to lose and offered a deal.
*Not a very good one, but attorneys have an obligation to tell their clients of any deal on the table.*
My professor’s client got very annoyed at this and kept announcing he was innocent. My professor actually still believed him at this point, but wanted to walk him through the options to be thorough.
Suddenly, the client’s demeanor changed. His hands started shaking as he looked at the table and mumbled about how “that prosecutor cunt” was just doing this to mess with him.
My professor was kind of taken aback because his client had been so respectful to everyone at that point, including folks on the opposing side. He understood the stress his client was under and tried to calm him down, assuring him that he had worked with that prosecutor a lot and she generally was fair. She might actually be worried that the sentencing would be too harsh in case they did lose this case. This was objectively a way to lower potential jail time.
His client looked up at him then with a face that almost knocked my professor over. My professor described his eyes as completely void and lifeless, like his client was looking straight through him.
According to my professor, he hasn’t really believed in evil until that day. He believed humans were complicated and could do monstrous things, but he didn’t believe anyone was evil. After this moment, he had a crisis and was shaken to his core.
My professor stuttered something about how he just wanted to look at the specifics of the deal to make an educated choice and his client cut him off.
Then, all of a sudden, it was like the old version client was back. He was immediately back to the timid, small man who spoke of how much he loved his wife and was a feminist for his daughters.
My professor was shaken though, and my client noticed. He grew increasingly hostile and started questioning every decision my professor made. My professor even considered asking to get off the case because it’s hard when a client has turned like that, but he worried a judge never would never allow a withdrawal this late in the trial.
Well, my professor’s client got off. Of course he did. Apart from a very questionable witness, they really didn’t have enough evidence to reach beyond reasonable doubt… Thanks to my professor doing a kickass job.
My professor tried to shake his client’s hand in the end, and his client just stared coldly at him and then smiled slightly. He mumbled something about how he would never forgive my professor for making a decision he disagreed with.
Two months later another murder occurred that fit the pattern of the previous attacks.
The woman who was murdered was a Latina woman also named Mary.
| 0 mlx | |
| 10 | |
| 0 |