The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-07-30
PUBLIC DEFENDER
IS HERE DEFINED
His Relations to the Court and The Advan-
tages Accruing to all Through the Es-
tabIishment of This Office, is Shown
BY Critic.
1T WOULD Benefit ALL

The o. E. L. Critic, of Washing
ton, D. c., has taken up the fight for
Public Defender. and in it's latest
issue advocates the establishment of
such an Office in every community,
with this very comprehensive article:
What is Public Defender?
You know what Public Prosecutor
is. A Public defender is just the
opposite. When man is suspected
of crime he is brought into court
and faces the Judge and jury. Mean
while the Public Prosecutor or
States Attorney, or whatever he may
officially be called, has been busy
getting together all the evidence he
car that the accused has committed
the crime. He has had the police
and detectives at work, often for
months, looking for every scintilla
of evidence which can be used to
show that the defendant is guilty.
The past life of the accused is dug
up, and if there is anything irregu-
lar about it, it is made to stand for a
presumption of guilt. The prosecu-
tor may be honest, doubtless he gen.
orally is, but it is not his business to
get the man off; it is his business to
make out a case and have him sent
to prison or the gallows. That is
what he is paid for
b i ID
that if you set out to find something,
if it is your duty to find it you can,
if your reputation depends on it and
especially if you are paid to do it,
you are very likely to find either it,
or something so very like it that it
would take more than the intelli-
gence of an average jury to tell the
difference. You can convince your
self of almost anything if you set
out to do so.
Must Prove Innocence
While it is the theory that the
state presumes man to be innocent
till he is proved guilty, it is very
different IN practice. Say what you
will. the state hires prosecutor at
the best salary it can pay, not to
find out whether the defendant is
guilty or not. but to prove that he
is guilty. and it puls this prosecutor
in position where his reputation,
possibly also his place, depends on
his gaining his point.
And how about the defendant?
Well, if he has the money to hire a
better lawyer than the state, he has
a fair show of getting off. If he is
convicted, he can carry his case from
one court to another, on this or that
plea, and in the end he can often
find one which will acquit him. But
suppose he has no money? Suppose
he canpot afford the lawyers fees
and all the rake-offs which suit in
wolves? This is very likely to be
the case, for while men are ofteh
relieved of their properly by meth
DDS which can bear legal dissection,
this is done by those who can pay
attorneys to advise them, but the
man who has no money is the one
who is forced to resort to such vul-
gar ways of getting it as picking
pockets, burglary, forging, counter
feiting, and is apt to be suspected
of them. What we call crime is
frequently the result of poverty, and
that means that the suspect (pre-
sumed by the law TO be innocent till
he is proved guilty. has nothing
worth speaking of to pay the lawyer
wlthal.
The Giant and Dwarf
And so it usually amounts to
this; The State. millionaire, against
John Smith, pauper-a giant against
dwarf. Doesn't that sound like
the act of bully?
Now, it has occurred to some
people that this is wholly unfair and
unjust. The state exists to protect
it's citizens, not TO set traps for
them. II it employs its resources to
prove them guilty, it should equally
do the same to prove them innocent.
1t should furnish every accused per-
son who cannot afford it himself,
with just as good legal talent for
his defense as it employs in his pros
ecutioD.
That is the object of the Public
Defender.
We would 60 step further than
this. We would say that in every
case the state should bear all the ex.
penses of the trial. No matter
whether the defendant be rich or
poor, the defense, as well as the
prosecution, should be conducted by
and at the cost of the state. Rich