It drives me crazy when I see ads for defense attorneys that say, “former prosecutor”. Why would I hire a former prosecutor to defend me? I want a defense attorney. Former prosecutors are, by nature, prosecutors. Their inherent bias is that people are guilty. They are not by nature compassionate, non-judgmental people who will believe that someone is wrongly accused by their former colleagues. And they do not, despite hope, get special treatment by their former colleagues because they are former prosecutors. In fact, I was in court one day in the jury room where DAs and defense attorneys meet to discuss cases and there was a blackboard in the room. Written on the blackboard it said, “If you tell me you’re a former DA, the offer goes up.” I am not now nor have I ever been a prosecutor. I am a dyed in the wool, bleeding heart, “true believer”. I couldn’t prosecute someone. I couldn’t find someone guilty of I were a juror because I know that the system is flawed and that the only people who ever truly know what happened are the people who were there. Who am I to judge? I give everyone the benefit of the doubt because we are all human. That is not in the nature of a prosecutor. Someone who prosecuted people for 20 years is not suddenly going to change their very nature. Prosecutors usually leave their jobs as prosecutors because they decided they wanted to take a shot at making more money. This is not to say they’re not intelligent and capable lawyers. And some do become very committed to the cause. But, I believe that they’re cut from different cloth.
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