WHAT A HEEL!: Indefensible Defense Attorney
During a debate on the floor of the MA state legislature on whether the state should enact Jessica’s Law, which mandates 20-year prison sentences for the rape of a child under age 12, Rep. James Fagan, (D-Taunton) warned his colleagues that as a defense attorney he had a duty to “rip apart” young rape victims during cross-examination (video):
“I'm going to rip them apart. I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they’re 8 years old, they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”
In an interview with the Boston Herald Mark Lunsford slammed Fagan: “Why doesn’t he figure out a way to defend that child and put these kind of people away instead of trying to figure ways for defense attorneys to get around Jessica’s Law?” His 9-year-old daughter, Jessica, was snatched from her bedroom and buried alive in a trash bag by sex offender John Couey in 2005.
BTW, Fagan, who chairs the Ethics Committee, should brush up on MA Rules of Professional Conduct, 1.2(a) for his own profession:
“A lawyer shall seek the lawful objectives of his or her client through reasonably available means permitted by law and these rules. A lawyer does not violate this rule, however, by … avoiding offensive tactics, or by treating with courtesy and consideration all persons involved in the legal process.”
[Hat Tip: The Heel, an Ivy-educated attorney with a prestigious New York firm.]
Editorial Note: The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that imposing the death penalty in child rape cases violates the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, reports The Associated Press: “The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.
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