Why We Defend Terrorists

Why We Defend Terrorists

Brian Resnick at The National Journal spoke with attorneys who defended high profile terrorist,like Timothy McVeigh, explaining why they do so, and why they feel it’s so important.

Tamar Birckhead, one of the defense attorneys for Richard Ried:

If someone like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev does not have the very best defense possible, then it puts our entire criminal-justice system in jeopardy. Because the most despised and hated among us—we as a society have a responsibility to protect them with the same commitment that we have to protect anyone. That’s the only way that our due process rights are going to endure. We can’t start picking and choosing among worthy and unworthy criminal defendants. We have to be very principled about it.