The lawyer leading his defense, Miriam Conrad, is a Harvard Law grad who's represented unpopular defendants including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, the Wall Street Journal reports.Rumpole has an interesting post about representing hated defendants. Would you do it?
Conrad — who's been a public defender for two decades — also represented 27-year-old Mulsim-American Rezwan Ferdaus, who got 17 years in prison after admitting he plotted to blow up the Pentagon and the Capitol.
Law professor Tamar R. Birckhead, who was a lawyer in Conrad's office, told the Journal that Conrad was doesn't suffer fools when defending her unpopular clients.
"Miriam is tough," Birckhead said. "She will provide the most rigorous dedicated defense humanly possible."
In an interview with Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly, Conrad gave some insight into why she makes a living representing hated defendants.
"If you scratch the surface, many have had difficult lives, and, as their lawyer, I sort of see them whole — not just as a person charged with a crime," she said in the interview. "No one has ever stood up for them, and that is a very powerful, emotional thing.”
Other lawyers currently on the team are public defenders Timothy Watkins and William Fick, who appeared in court on Tsarnaev's behalf on Monday. Despite the undeniable horror of the Boston Marathon bombing, that team may be able to elicit some sympathy for her 19-year-old defendant.
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
You cannot fear our freedoms and liberties. You must cherish them and fight to protect them.
ReplyDeleteA society that can give its most hated members (terrorists, child molesters, rapists, etc.) all the rights entitled to all its members is a strong and truly free society. Whether it is John Adams defending Captain Preston or an AFPD defending a charged terrorist, it is part of what makes America great.
Your headline betrays the kind of nonsense that deserves no discussion. She is a superb lawyer and until your churlish headline, no one had yet suggested she was "hated" in any degree. That kind of fringe thinking should be left to the cesspool blogs, not one that aspires to provide "news and notes regarding federal practice."
ReplyDeleteAmen, 11:46.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she's hates because she's a sox and cheaters fan.
ReplyDeleteShe's both, Runpole, but can still run circles around you in court. She's tough, smart, and highly respected. Far closer to a real barrister than you.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe a person, with any true understanding of "...liberty and justice for all", could say that Miriam Conrad,Esq. is "hated" for doing her sworn duty. If anything, we need to be honored to know that there are persons like her willing to take on the most challenging charges of justice and uphold what is right. If there was any wrong done (from evidence collected or how he was captured that does not align with the legal guidelines of federal/state laws) may she uncover it and ensure his RIGHTS are upheld in accordance to laws of the United States of America. For those things we celebrate about being Americans must not be simply in sports and music, rather of our Constitutional obligation to be JUST...~VesSouL~
ReplyDeleteIm glad the young man jahar has a good attorney like her.first off i think he is innocent and will always no matter what the media has to say
ReplyDeleteInnocent? Maybe you need to be on the FBI radar.
ReplyDelete