The renowned Norwegian lawyer Geir Lippestad has been appointed as public defender for Anders Behring Breivik. He has accepted the task, after due deliberation and discussions with his family and friends.
For accepting this appointment Lippestad has received scorn, contempt and even death threats from parts of the general public - and parts of the media as well - who do not seem to understand the important role of a defender in a democratic state and for the rule of law.
In every democratic legal system everyone who commits a crime is considered innocent - at least by the state if not the general public and the media - until proven guilty in a trial.
All democratic legal system also apply the adversary process of trial in which the prosecutor and the defendant (mostly trough his defense lawyer) compete to convince the court (or in some cases the judge or the jury) of the guilt or innocence of the defendant and what a suitable sentence should be according to law.
The prosecutor has the burden of proof, it is the defense lawyers task to see to it that the prosecutor fulfills his task and that the court before passing judgment is made aware of any facts or circumstances that are beneficial for the defendant.
Through this process we try to avoid condemning someone for a crime they have not committed and that we have convincing evidence - beyond a reasonable doubt - when we do find someone guilty of a crime and sentence them to serve an appropriate punishment.
It is always important that we bear in mind that the role of the defender is to defend the alleged criminal, not the crime.
Yes, I got kinda scared when people started to hate the defender.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how awful the monster from Norways crimes have been, we all should have a right to have a lawyer.
If we take away that, we are no better then the monster himself