"You don't have to be crazy to be a criminal defense lawyer in this town- but it helps!!!!"

Jack Blumenfeld, a long-time criminal defense lawyer in Miami, who has represented Jose Battle, Sr. and one of the "Cuban spies", emailed us last night regarding the Padilla verdict and how criminal defense lawyers suffer from disease where you convince yourself that you have a shot at a NG verdict in impossible cases. With permission, we reprint his email here:

If you want to talk to some lawyers to get an idea what the defense is going through, talk to [the Cuban Spy lawyers] about the effect on us when the Cuban Spy jury came back with guilty verdicts. We may have been the only 5 people in Dade County who thought that we could win a NG for Cuban spies in Miami- and that included the defendants, all 5 of whom knew what the outcome would be. I think judge Lenard saw the devastation on our faces, as she cleared the courtroom and had the doors locked, so we could partially recover. Ironically, the defendants were consoling the lawyers. I was in a daze for a week.

These people will go through the same thing. It happens when you ABSOLUTELY know you won the trial but lost the verdict. Cuban Spies- Alleged AQ members- and we all fought our hearts out for a NG- doesn't that make you feel great you chose criminal defense? You don't have to be crazy to be a criminal defense lawyer in this town- but it helps!!!!