Criminal Law
Introduction
I was privileged to interview defense attorney Richard Haynes who is based in Texas. He is one of the founding members of the firm Richard Haynes & Associates which is currently based in Houston. Haynes is an 82-year old lawyer and has been practicing his profession for five decades. His wisdom, charm and knowledge had earned him to become one of the best lawyers in Texas. Haynes is already considered as a legend in his profession based on his years of experience in the legal profession. Haynes represented at least forty of his clients who faced capital punishment and not of them had been sentenced to death. His brilliance as a defense lawyer earned him a winning streak for the past five decades of practice. Even his 163 clients who had to face simple charges of driving under the influence of alcohol were all acquitted (Curriden, 2009). His success can be attributed on how he presents his case inside the courtroom. He has learned the art of re-enacting the crime scenes and he considered the courtroom as a theater. His dramatic flair became one of his assets based on the favorable decisions received by his clients.
Summary
The duty of a defense attorney is to defend his clients during jury trial and to respect the confidences shared by them as part of the privileged communication. The obligation to respect client confidentiality had legally bound the attorney not to disclose the information that the client has provided to them (Kleinig, 2008, p.144). In a jury trial, after the presentation of the witnesses, the defense attorney will be given the opportunity to cross-examine the witness to clarify the involvement of the defendant in the crime (Siegel, 2009). After the prosecution closes its case, the defense attorney may ask the judge to rule on a motion for a direct verdict. If the motion of the defense attorney will be sustained by the court, the judge may direct the jury to acquit the defendant and end the case. Hence, the duty of the defense attorney during a criminal trial is to prove the innocence of the defendant before the judge and the jury based on the evidence he will present before the court. The principles of law that are cited by the defense attorney will serve as a guide to prove the innocence of the defendant. It shall be the burden of the prosecution to prove that the defendant’s guilt is beyond reasonable doubt in a criminal case. However, when the defendant is convicted, the duty of the defense attorney is to appeal the case after a judgment of conviction was ordered and after the defendant was given the sentence (Siegel, 2009).
Haynes is fully aware that the legal profession has been tainted with negative perception due to the issue on commercialism. He knows how many lawyers use their profession to generate income through compromising means. However, despite of this negative perception of the legal profession, many young students are drawn to the profession of traditional legal service because of the prestige and honor attributed to defense lawyers. Young lawyers must maintain the idealism and passion to serve the community and the country for humanitarian causes.
Haynes believed that his years of experience had paid off based on the number of cases he won under his name. He gives his heart and soul in every case he has handled and made sure that his client is acquitted. He had to think good strategies in order to outsmart his opposing counsels.
During the interview, he placed an emphasis that the legal profession covers several responsibilities especially for practicing lawyers like him who are work in the firm. As a defense lawyer, he has to create a legal team to be able to successfully win his cases. Haynes had to supervise paralegals, legal researchers and young attorney who will help him come up with a good defense for their clients. There must be a good team work between the lawyers, legal researchers, and the legal staff, particularly the criminal cases they spend at least 16 hours a day to present valid defenses for the charges made against the client and present evidence during the trial. Haynes emphasized that the secret to his record of longest winning streak requires tedious concentration by putting time and effort in the rigorous work of research, interviews and gathering of evidence. These are the major responsibilities of a defense attorney and he cannot do it alone.
Haynes had been asked to teach young lawyers about trial technique and practice. He had taught his students to have a good analysis on the issues of the case before dissecting the legal problem. Identify the legal issue in the problem is the key in having a good analysis. To be able to resolve the issue, Haynes teaches his students to use case laws and conduct an extensive research on the applicable cases involving the identified issues. Haynes believes that the statutory and case law analysis is vital to be able to build valid defenses to the case.
Haynes found his niche in criminal cases since appearing in the courtroom and convincing the judge and the jury that his client’s innocence is his greatest achievement. To him, he considered his presence inside the courtroom proceedings as the essence of the legal profession. This is how Haynes works his magic when he mimics the opposing counsels, he shouts and screams to highlight his arguments and even dances when there is a need to do so. While presenting evidence, he is seen waving around murder weapons, which may be in the form of guns or cattle prods (Curriden, 2009). Becoming a defense attorney is a difficult task to accomplish, however Haynes surpassed all trials with flying colors after being acclaimed as the best lawyer in Houston.
Questions
- How long have you been practicing as a defense counsel?
- What is the name of your law firm and where is it located?
- How many cases winning and losing cases have you have handled?
- What are the duties and responsibilities of a defense counsel?
- Can you explain how the jury trial process works?
- What are some of the difficult challenges you have encountered in your profession?
- Do you attribute your success solely on your own efforts?
- What are the things to be done to prepare for a good defense?
- What are the strategies that you use to convince the judge and the jury to rule in your favor?
- Do you think the legal profession is all about making money?
Reference:
Curriden, M. (2009). Richard “Racehorse” Haynes. ABA Journal. Web. Retrieved from
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/richard_racehorse_haynes.
Kleinig, J. (2008). Ethics and Criminal Justice: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press:
U.K.
Siegel, L. J. (2009). Essentials of Criminal Justice. California: Cengage Learning.
