Never mind that Youngblood fit the description provided by the victim, or that the traumatized child also identified Youngblood in court as the perpetrator. Never mind that the evidence appeared so overwhelming that it took the jury only 40 minutes to convict Youngblood and send him on his way to a 10-year prison term. In my heart, I questioned the judgment of the public defenders who would bring such an important issue to the Supreme Court with such an obviously guilty defendant. But public defenders Dan Davis and Carol Wittels seemed less concerned with the precedent the court might set than with winning freedom for their client. Yes, without a doubt, they both said.
Defense lawyers can believe, or appear to believe, anything.
Supreme Court justices are supposed to decide cases on the basis of the law, but like all humans, they too can be influenced by the facts. And the facts in this case couldn't have been worse for Youngblood. Moreover, he lived alone, had a history of mental illness and had had previous run-ins with the law. As expected, the Supreme Court upheld Youngblood's conviction, deciding his fate with exceptional speed, just as the jury had two years earlier. We didn't know the half of it.