Yellow Jacket Times - Jefferson County Public Schools

It’s the Law
Lanisha Porter
Law is supposed to ensure justice and keep citizens within the boundaries of the
society. However, more and more on my quest through the legal field, I see that criminal law is not always pure. Law
protects some, but what about those it violates and betrays?
Last year, we studied the case of a man named Alton Logan. Logan was unjustly imprisoned for 26 years for a murder he
did not commit. After 26 years of imprisonment, two attorneys revealed that their former client had admitted to
committing the crime that sent Logan to prison. Attorney-Client privilege had prevented the attorneys from coming
forward sooner. The death of that former client had allowed the attorneys to unseal an affidavit stating that Logan was
indeed not responsible for the shooting. When I learned about that in class I thought, “What if that client didn't die?
Logan would still be sitting in prison…What if both the attorneys died? Then who would've unsealed the affidavit?” It was
that moment I realized I would never be a criminal lawyer. No matter the salary amount.
The boundaries of being a criminal lawyer are incompatible with my own ethics, values, and beliefs. I believe lawyers
should be advocates of justice, but in this case two lawyers delayed justice from prevailing. I do understand the purpose
of Attorney-Client privilege. But in my psyche, I also understand that lawyers take an oath to defend the constitution,
and it could be argued that amendment number eight of the U.S Constitution was violated.
Let’s take a moment to learn what Attorney-Client Privilege is exactly. According to www.sgrlaw.com, “The attorneyclient
privilege is the oldest privilege recognized by Anglo-American jurisprudence. In fact, the principles of the
testimonial privilege may be traced all the way back to the Roman Republic, and its use was firmly established in English
law as early as the reign of Elizabeth I in the 16th century. Grounded in the concept of honor, the privilege worked to bar
any testimony by the attorney against the client. In other words, the Privilege is like a "zone of privacy" for the client no
matter what they did. As the privilege has evolved, countless policy justifications have played a role in its development.
At its most basic, the privilege ensures that one who seeks advice or aid from a lawyer should be completely free of any
fear that his secrets will be uncovered.”
After studying this case my law teacher asked, “If you were in the position of the lawyers what would you have done?” I
deeply considered the question. Without being biased, I thought to myself: I could--A) Honor the Attorney-Client
privilege, keep my license to practice law, advertently let an innocent man sit in prison for something he did not do, and
have guilt gnawing at my heart for 26 years. Or B) I could-- speak out, betraying the Attorney-Client privilege, be
disbarred from practicing law, lose money, set an innocent man free, and sleep peacefully at night. I raised my hand and
told my teacher I would gladly hand over my law license to the state. I’m a person who firmly believes in justice for all.
I don’t believe in justice for the richest, the smartest, the most attractive, or the more pre-dominant. I truly believe in
justice for all. When I think about what is next in my life, I know for sure what I don’t want. I absolutely do not want a
career where I have to compromise my ethics to ensure my livelihood. Just like one of my favorite quotes read, I too
believe that “Solely focusing your life on making a buck shows a poverty in ambition.” What’s the point in going to law
school for all those years and spending all that money to contribute to destruction of humanity? Not all lawyers are bad,
but the system they practice in is!
At this point you're probably asking, "What’s so wrong with law?" My answer is: precedent, racial profiling, how it's
more based on strategic method and finding loop-wholes more so than justice prevailing, and domination of the food
chain. If law was so effective then why are the jail houses still over-flowing with criminals. Considering that the bounds
of our legal system are defined by a document that is more than 200 years old our justice system needs reformation. In
law and government classes I have learned some of the best lessons and have studied some the most interesting cases,
but I have also encountered the worst heartaches. But the more I study law, there’s just so much I don't agree with in
the legal field.
Every system has its flaws, but for such a system that has such a heavy influence of the lives of others, you would think
we would work to improve it. Sure some charges could be expunged but twenty-six years of somebody’s life can’t be