From DR Cilla:
Johnnie was inspiring, not about the OJ case but about Geronimo Pratt, who he spent his entire career trying to free. He believed an innocent man had been convicted and eventually was able to get him released.
This is admirable & always nice to see the other side of a person. On an emotional level I find it difficult at times to understand how trial lawyers can defend someone guilty of such a horrendous crime. Yes, I obviously believe OJ did the crime.
It's a matter of believing in our system of justice for most of us. Everyone is entitled to a zealous defense and everyone has constitutional rights. Too often law enforcement starts with believing they know who did it and builds a case to fit that conclusion rather than investigating the facts and letting them lead to the person who committed the crime. It's a human reaction, not always intentional but it can lead to an innocent person being convicted. The worse the crime the more pressure for an arrest, the more mistakes are made and corners are cut. When it comes to constitutional issues, if you cut corners for someone because the offense is especially bad, it's not a stretch to cut corners for everyone else.
I'm not saying that OJ was innocent, I'm saying that this is a motivating factor behind a lot of what we defense attorneys do. PLUS...when you see people over charged and unreasonable prosecutors insist on ridiculous penalties for things that are just not that big a deal, it's not hard to fight to keep them in check
