But the defender has absolutely no power to jail the mother. Effective threats and blackmail require you to have some kind of ability to follow through on some level, and a public defender doesn’t.
Moreover, there are very few that would, since attempting to do that to a client would likely be some form of gross misconduct that could get you sanctioned or disbarred.
wildcardology@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
That’s why he’s banking on the brother to not know that. Besides it’s the brother’s words against the public defender’s.
HelixDab2@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
That scenario is so improbable that, without any evidence other than an incoherent post on NSQ, no one can reasonably claim that’s what’s going on.
wildcardology@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Ok, I get it now. You’re on the side that public defenders cannot do anything shady.
The brother is alleging that the public defender threatened him that he will jail his mother if he doesn’t take the plea deal. Is that really improbable?
The fastest way for a case resolution is for the defendant to take a plea deal. That’s a minimum of one day of work. A trial can take weeks or even months. Like I said public defenders are overworked and under paid. They want the cases assigned to them done quickly.
HelixDab2@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Yes, it really is.
Public defenders do what they do because they love it, and they believe that it’s important. Pretty much everyone that works as a public defender could make far, far more money in private practice, with a much lighter case load. These are largely people that are ideologically motivated. So yes, it’s highly improbable that a public defender is not only going to fuck their client over–which would be a breach of their ethical duty already–but would then go on to commit an offense that could see them disbarred.
They may not always be effective due to their caseloads, but it would be very rare to find one that’s malicious.