The Atlantic Wire has an interesting piece analyzing the actions of George Zimmerman's former attorneys, an piece that comes to the conclusion that perhaps they were the ones that went rogue, not their client. Some of the reasons include:
They gave a press conference. Dropping a client isn't unusual, lawyers do it every day. But quitting via press conference is highly unusual.
Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney in Miami and author of Spinning the Law, said Uhrig and Sonner's decision to hold a news conference was baffling. "The lawyers have every right to withdraw, but it's highly unusual," he said. "In the court of public opinion, the press conference was not helpful for George Zimmerman."They discussed George Zimmerman's mental state: Describing Zimmerman as "emotionally crippled" and posssibly suffering from PTSD is not only in bad taste, it's unethical.
"It's unbelievable that you would get on television and talk about your client's mental state," Jose Baez, a criminal defense attorney told CNN last night. "What you have here, as an attorney, you have an ethical obligation to not only not post attorney-client communication but attorney-client confidence. Things you learn in the process of representing a client are considered confidential so any conversations they have are completely protected and the holder of this privilege is George Zimmerman ... It's reprehensible."Other concerns include the fact that they only waited three days after not hearing from Zimmerman before having a press conference and that, through explaining this, they implied that Zimmerman might be a flight risk, therefore damaging his reputation.
No comments:
Post a Comment