Got 'im

Prosecutor Ragged Edge goes off on Indiana PD, prompted by the Atlanta killings, and the capture of the killer:

IPD #1

Ragged #1

Ragged #2

I afraid that, as tiresome (and self-aggrandizing, and self-congratulating, and self-deluding) as prosecutors' claims are to be upholding the Truth, this prosecutor gets the better of my colleague this time.

As criminal defense lawyers at times like these, we've traditionally been too quick to haul out cliches like "the bloodlust of the government" and "legal barbarism" while the bloodlust and barbarism of our client is ringing in everyone's ears. We need to pause and reflect on the grief and suffering of others just a moment before we jump on the defend-the-defense-lawyers high horse. I'm horrified by what the shooter has done. I continue to believe in my heart that the system has no claim to put him to death, but I would have felt no grief, and in fact great satisfaction in my gut, if he had been gunned down by law enforcement. I acknowledge the impulse in my gut without ever wanting it to be enshrined in the law.

So, I would expect these new murder charges to go to trial, where I would no more expect the defense lawyer to hold back any "mental gymnastics" in service of the client (and the integrity of the system) than I would expect the prosecution in pre-trial negotiations to take death off the table.