September 01, 2007

SC: "lawyer, attorney, counselor -- all are names of who I am"

From the Beaufort Gazette:

Deputy public defender finds 'calling' in job

Deputy Public Defender Trasi Campbell is defending herself today... Now the man she once defended on taxpayer money is sitting in the plaintiff's chair - putting her on the defensive by saying her failure to call possibly key witnesses in his case landed him 10 years in prison...

Tyrone Robinson has applied for post-conviction relief, a type of last-ditch civil action taken by prisoners in reducing sentences, and now Campbell's former public defender colleague, Don Colongeli, is appointed to represent Robinson and is questioning Campbell.

Although Campbell read over the case file the night before, she struggles to remember details of what transpired more than four years - and hundreds of clients - ago. But she is sure she did the right thing. "I did invest in this case," she answers Colongeli. "If I made a decision not to subpoena, the decision was made for Mr. Robinson and with Mr. Robinson..."

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