In 2012, a technician working in a drug-testing lab on Massachusetts admitted to faking the results of tests for over eight and half years. Up to 20,000 people were convicted in part due to results that were used in evidence that had been tampered with to report a false positive.
Four years later, the courts are still struggling to notify every defendant whose case was affected by this miscarriage of justice. While the prosecutor’s office fights to keep all those convictions on the books, innocent people are lingering behind bars.
Protect yourself from an overworked system
When you’ve been arrested and face criminal charges, it might feel like a simple case to you, that opting to go with an attorney assigned to you for no charge is a good choice. You feel you are innocent. You’re confident the judge and jury will see the truth.
However, in our overworked legal system, the public defender’s office may not have the time and resources to give you the defense that you truly deserve. What’s more: relying on them might mean a wrongful conviction that may be difficult to overturn. Is that a risk you want to take?
Who has your back?
When you opt to go with a public defender, you are putting all your faith into a system that struggles to function during the best of times.
Both your attorney assigned by the court and the prosecutor will accept test results returned by the lab working for the state as true. While committed to giving you a vigorous defense, the fact is the lawyer standing up for you has their hands tied by a heavy workload and limited funding.
Is this who you really want to depend on when it comes to your freedom? What other items in evidence might be tainted?
Think outside the box for best results
You need your proceedings to be conducted correctly the first time around, instead of potentially getting trapped in a system uninterested in protecting your rights.
Reach out to an attorney versed in criminal law. They will be able to fight for you, unencumbered by public funding and without bias.
