The New York Times writes:
The death threats and hate mail, she says, have slowed, and she keeps her office door unlocked in defiance. There, Jennifer L. McCann sits behind her desk, wearing leopard print pumps, poised for an argument.The most interesting part of the article is where Ms. McCann says:
Ms. McCann chose to defend Levi Aron, a hardware clerk from Brooklyn who is accused of a crime that gripped the city this summer: the kidnapping, killing and dismembering of Leiby Kletzky, 8, who got lost walking to meet his parents in July in the Hasidic Jewish enclave of Borough Park.
“People assume I’m O.K. with a young boy being murdered because I represent the defendant,” Ms. McCann, 30, said recently in her office in Garden City, N.Y., which she opened in March after four years of practicing criminal defense law for a local firm. “To me, that’s pretty vicious. They have to understand, I’m not all right with people being murdered or with crime. I’m all right with defending constitutional rights.
“If he’s guilty, he will be convicted. And that’s it. But my God,” she added with gritted teeth, “it’s going to be legally.”
At Mr. Aron’s arraignment on Aug. 4, Ms. McCann insisted to distraught Jewish community members outside a courtroom that her client was no different from anyone accused of murder or drunken driving — he had rights. Her comparison drew gasps and angry retorts.
[...]
In her trial preparations, she has learned about the Hasidic community in Borough Park and has also learned a new word. “Shiska,” Ms. McCann said, mispronouncing the Yiddish word, shiksa, for a non-Jewish woman.The most troubling part of it is where Ms. McCann says:
Ms. McCann does not apologize for what she does not know. Or the profession she chose.
“This is what I do,” she said. “You kill people, you call me.”
The fact that you found her last quote troubling must mean you are troubled by the entire American legal system.
ReplyDeleteI dont think so. I just spent the whole post basically saying she is right. they deserve and have the right to a defense.
ReplyDeleteI just find troubling the way she said you kill people, you call me. She should have said if you are accused of killing someone you call me, or something like that.
Gotta love the "shiska" part!
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't defend someone accused of murder, she is defending a confessed murderer. That's why she said what she said. And I think she is right albeit blunt.
Rafi,
ReplyDeleteI saw the article as well, and the last line is not great. One thing you can't tell, though, is when in the conversation and in what context she gave that quote. It could well be that she made teh statement in question as part of a general description of the job of a defense attorney, and the NYT reporter saw that as a great,controversial, quote with which to end off her article. The placement definitely did generate the "buzz" that a reporter would want.