In daily life we regularly see parent defend child, brother defend sister and friend defend friend when the person being defended is obviously guilty of the accusation, or some form thereof. Objection to defending someone who is guilty appears not so much a matter of principle, but a matter of how far out of our personal relationships we extend its benefits. And the further we go outside our own frame of reference the easier it is to make judgments about another’s “innocence” or “guilt”. In the last several years many individuals have been released from prison, after having been found guilty, to be found not guilty through DNA samples. In light of such events, perhaps it is best to make the justice system prove the guilt and not the individual charged prove innocence.
We would suggest to you that many people you know have done things in their life they’re not proud of, and however ugly, at the moment they did it thought they had a good reason/excuse for doing it. They may have simultaneously realized that it was “wrong,” but they still thought they had a reason for the behavior. When it is a crime, the attorney’s job is to give that person the opportunity to explain their reasoning to the jury or at least make the government prove its case…..the opportunity to be not guilty, until found so beyond a reasonable doubt. As much as we may not like this concept when a terrible crime has been committed, this very requirement is what separates our legal system from the majority of other legal systems around the globe and makes it truly one of the best in the world.