High-powered attorney to represent Arizona shooting suspect
By Michael Kiefer, Arizona Republic
When Jared Loughner faces a judge in federal court in Phoenix this afternoon, he will be accompanied by the same high-powered defense attorney who represented the “Unabomber,” the Atlanta Olympics bomber and Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two children by driving her car into a lake.
The Federal Public Defender’s Office in Phoenix has recommended that San Diego attorney Judy Clarke take Loughner’s case.
She will appear with him at his initial court appearance and ask to be appointed as Loughner’s attorney.
Loughner, 22, has been charged with five federal felonies: the attempted murders of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her staffers, and the murders of U.S. District Judge John Roll and Giffords aide Gabriel Zimmerman.
Loughner could face the death penalty, although that decision has not yet been reached.
And Attorneys wonder why we scratch our heads at them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have all attorneys turn their back on a nut like this guy in AZ?
You know, Bob, as horrible as this whole situation is, I have a friend who is a lawyer, and he helped me understand how he can defend horrible people. He truly believes in the system, that everyone deserves a proper defense, even the most hardened criminal. Consequently my friend is not a real happy person, seriously conflicted, but lives what he believes. Not sayin’ that this guy’s attorney is anything like my friend, but maybe. You never know.