We all know that laws exist to protect fundamental rights, ensure fairness, maintain social order, and create systems that keep people safe from harm and injustice. However, the role of a defense attorney often requires more than just legal expertise; it demands immense emotional resilience. Every person deserves fair representation, yet legal professionals occasionally face cases that test the very limits of their professional resolve.

A Reddit thread brought this reality to light when lawyers were asked to describe the hardest clients they ever had to defend. The responses that followed were intense, thought-provoking, and at times deeply unsettling. We’ve gathered some of the most eye-opening stories below. Scroll on to read them, but be prepared, some involve serious and disturbing crimes.

#1

Client was a nurse who had administered a fatal injection. K****d a baby. It was a long story.

TLDR, I got her off any charges of negligence.

Many years ago but this case will stay with me forever.

After hours, small rural hospital, understaffed and under equipped. Paediatric ward, baby very ill with gastro enteritis and hadn’t responded to weeks of treatment, was losing weight despite everything.

There was no doctor on the paediatric ward that night (or, in fact, in the entire hospital), when the lab phoned the baby’s bloodwork results in to the nurse on duty and said the baby was going to d*e soon if he didn’t receive urgent treatment.

Nurse phoned the doctor on telephonic call (who wasn’t supposed to go in, having already worked long hours that day, just be available for phone calls) and the doc gave instructions for a sister to give an ampoule of potassium chloride. She wrote down the instruction. The doc didn’t specify that it be given orally. Which was what was meant. But because the doc specified that a sister must give it, she assumed it should be an injection as she herself wasn’t qualified to give injections (but a nursing sister is).

The nurse called the sister from the maternity ward to carry out the instruction, explained the urgency. The sister was very busy in the maternity ward but came to the paediatric ward and gave the injection. Baby passed away from immediate cardiac arrest.

The partners in the firm didn’t want to touch the case as they thought it was impossible.

But in our law, negligence has a specific definition. I won the case for the nursing sister by arguing that my client was trying her best, with only the instructions and resources at hand, under circumstances where she had been told the patient would d*e very soon if the treatment wasn’t given.

She was an amazingly dedicated person and what happened had completely devastated her, she wanted to quit nursing. I hope she changed her mind after that.

Afterword:
The one good thing that came out of this tragic event was that I mentioned to a local Rotary Club member that the hospital in question desperately needed some telemedicine equipment (knowing that the club had such a project) and shortly after that they were able to make a donation of equipment to the hospital. (I even coincidentally saw that doctor in passing years afterwards and the doctor was so grateful for that equipment.)

© Photo: anon

#2

Had a woman charged with violating a no contact order. The order said that she wasn’t to come within 100 yards of her ex’s house. Cops pull up to ex’s house and she’s standing in the front yard, waving her arms and screaming.

I was wracking my brain for something to argue to the jury as a reason to find her not guilty. Didn’t really come up with much.

© Photo: AverageATuin

#3

A client once told me all about his big fall in a supermarket. Did all I could to make clear that the client was traumatized because the supermarket didn’t clean the d**n floor. Low and behold the supermarket showed a recording of the client setting up his fall by opening a bottle himself and pouring all around the corridor. I just dropped the case right there and let him to figure out how to pay for the legal expenses. So, there it goes, my most impossible to defend client, as, of course, I didn’t even try after that point.

© Photo: LucasMoreiraBR

If you’ve ever watched the hit legal drama Suits, you’ve probably seen the polished, high-pressure world of corporate law, where sharp arguments and million-dollar cases often take center stage. The reality of legal work, however, can look very different, especially for criminal defense lawyers and public defenders.

Unlike the glamorous portrayals often seen on screen, these attorneys are tasked with representing people from all walks of life, including those accused of deeply serious crimes. Their role is not about excusing actions, but about ensuring that every individual, regardless of the allegations against them, has access to a fair trial and due process. That principle is one of the foundations of justice.

#4

It’s a toss-up between the admitted child r**ist and the mother who lost custody when CPS found out her 6 kids were sleeping in a dank basement and getting m***sted by older cousins, with her knowledge.

© Photo: WaluigiIsTheRealHero

#5

Have a neighbor who was part of defense team for a high profile case where person was clearly guilty… said at that point, it’s just about getting them a fair trial, negotiating conditions of confinement (max/medium/min security), proximity of prison to family, etc.

© Photo: blipsman

#6

I do family law. My hardest clients are the ones that low key alienate their children from an ex over personal feelings. They don’t see it or why the behavior is a problem and they are usually very unlikeable people. Don’t get me wrong, I have repped bad people who still manage to be likeable, but not these walnuts.

© Photo: YeetOrBeYeetenEsq

Still, defending difficult cases can come with an immense emotional cost. Lawyers who represent individuals accused of serious offenses often carry a psychological burden that many outside the profession rarely consider. The intensity of courtroom proceedings, the nature of the evidence presented, and the emotional weight surrounding these cases can all take a significant toll. In some situations, attorneys are not only navigating complex legal arguments but also processing deeply distressing realities while maintaining professionalism and focus.

#7

My friend always has to defend people that shoplift at Wal-Mart. For some reason they think they can get out of it even though there is clear video showing them stealing and getting apprehended with the stolen merchandise.

© Photo: ableseacat14

#8

My story doesn’t involve s*x, d***s or fights, sorry.

I’ve been a lawyer for almost a year now, so this was one of my first cases.

My father in law asked me to help a friend of his who was having trouble with his driver license. Turns out he had the license revoked because he passed a red light.

Went to talk with the guy, he told me that wasn’t him using the vehicle and that didn’t received any notifications.

I went to the transit department to get the files of the ticket and man…. It was clear as day that was him in the vehicle. I mean, *he was in fact wearing the same shirt of his driver license picture*, lol

I was almost giving up, told him he could apply for a new driver license and wasn’t a big deal, but he confessed to me that he actually had bought that license, paid lots of money and couldn’t afford a new one (he is a good driver, but he almost can’t read, so he couldn’t pass the writing test).

As you may know I had a legal obligation of keep his secret.

Anyway, here in my country, in order to respect the due process of law, transit department needs to send two notifications to a person: one about the ticket and other about the punishment.

We managed to prove that they didn’t send the notifications. So he couldn’t defend himself, therefore, the process is invalid.

I didn’t get into the subject of whether or not he was driving though.

Now he is happily driving and my father in law is proud of me.

© Photo: wonderisa

#9

Not a lawyer here, but my dad was, one of his hardest cases was a day I had to go to work with him. The judge was very understanding. He gave me a legal pad to “take notes” I was maybe 3 and couldn’t read or write but I took the pad and pen he gave me. And I copied what everyone else was doing. All it was was squiggles and dots. But hey I took notes.

After he heard the argument the judge took my note pad back and checked my notes. He played along. Told me they were excellent notes. He then told me that I did good. And asked me if I thought my dad had the better argument. I said yes because he’s my dad. My dad lost the case because the answer was blatant. But still best memory ever.

Side note. He was an environmental lawyer, the case was about a house being built near a wetland and the distance of it and the power used. He lost but hey it worked.

© Photo: akien0222

It’s not uncommon for defense attorneys to experience emotional strain, such as guilt, anxiety, or internal conflict, as they balance their professional duty with their own personal beliefs. A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry explored the concept of moral injury among criminal defense attorneys and found that many grapple with feelings of shame, distress, and emotional conflict when their legal obligations feel at odds with their personal values. This emotional tension can be especially difficult because the justice system depends on lawyers advocating fully for their clients, even when the circumstances are troubling.

#10

Got a DUI client who had kicked his trial date down by almost two years. Had a history of DUI but had cleaned up his act until this one.

His story: he was sitting in his car waiting for a ride when he got picked up, no keys in the ignition, talked to the cops by opening the door, no way he could have hoped to drive the thing.

Cops’ story: keys were in the ignition and window was down. No one disputing that he was s**t-faced.

His case was winnable but for one thing – he couldn’t Lee his d**n trap shut on the stand. If I asked him the time, he told me where his watch was made and what the name of the clerk was who sold it to him. Classic mouth-diarrhea sufferer.

His friends were his other witnesses, and I couldn’t have asked for better ones. The police were the prosecutor’s witnesses, and I poked holes in their testimony left and right. The case was far from an airtight acquittal, but I had more than enough reasonable doubt to win…

…except for my client. Who revealed on the stand that it was his fourth DUI – when, as far as anyone on the jury was concerned, it was his first. Then he couldn’t keep his story straight on how he talked to the cop – opening the window vs cracking the door (makes a difference because the key would have had to be in the ignition for the windows to roll down.) And if I tried to rein him in, he went off on another tangent.

And this was all after refusing to plead to a stipulated first offense, which would have been fines and traffic school – instead, he torpedoed his own case, got convicted, got something like 60 days in jail and a s**t-ton of costs, and I got frustratingly close to a win.

© Photo: ArmyMedicalCrab

#11

Defense attorney here and honestly sometimes the hardest clients to defend aren’t the guiltiest but the ones who are just a******s.

I’ve had some really sweet, nice clients who are guilty as sin and my goal is to get them the best outcome, make sure their constitutional rights are protected – easy. But the clients who lie to me because they think it’ll make me work harder if I think they’re innocent, the clients who call me a public pretender, the clients who call me nothing more than a mouthpiece for the da – those are the hardest for me to defend.

But don’t get me wrong, I’ll still fight hard as hell for all my clients.

© Photo: bsbmaillle

#12

I was defending in a DUI case where the guy argued that the reason there was alcohol in his blood is because the cops used alcoholic hand sanitizers when arresting him and the alcohol was on his skin where the needle went… due to the ethical code of the bar association, I had to ask several questions about this from an expert witness who had 20 yrs of medical experience, the witness kind of understood why I had to ask these insane questions nontheless I felt like a moron.

In the end I could still get a better sentence than his plea deal.

© Photo: anon

In particularly difficult cases, attorneys may be exposed to graphic evidence, disturbing testimonies, or deeply unsettling details that stay with them long after the trial has ended. Listening to painful accounts, reviewing distressing material, or sitting through emotionally charged proceedings can create mental fatigue and, in some cases, symptoms similar to secondary trauma. While they are trained to remain composed, that does not make them immune to the psychological impact of what they witness.

#13

There are two.

The first was a guy who was convicted for s*x with a minor. He met this girl online, courted her, then drove a significant distance to meet her, take her from her parents house to a motel, and do their thing. It was straight out of To Catch A Predator except everything was real and Chris Hansen wasn’t hiding around the corner.

The girl was unmistakably under 18. His defense at trial was that she told him she was over 18. She denied that and their chat transcript didn’t show that. He got was convicted and filed a post conviction relief petition arguing is prior lawyer was ineffective and there were errors in his trial. I was appointed to represent him in this.

This guy did not get it. He did the thing he was accused of and was convicted of. He kept blaming everyone else for his predicament: the victim, his prior lawyer, the judge, the cop. It was everyone’s fault but his. I told him he had no case but he was convinced his conviction would be overturned. We had our hearing and it was very short. Petition denied.

He contacted me later about filing an appeal and I was able get out of the case by filing paperwork showing that his case was without merit and nothing I could do would help him.

The second one was a career criminal. An undercover detective contacted him about buying d***s. He wasn’t randomly selected, the d**g task force had intel that this guy was selling, plus his prior record was full of d**g convictions.

He was represented at trial by a public defender. The PD suggested that he cooperate with the d**g task force to help to identify other d**g dealers as a way to get a reduced sentence. This d*****s took that to mean the PD’s office was working for the prosecution and was therefore corrupt. He demanded that the court give him another free lawyer. The judge denied his request several times so he demanded that the PD be removed so he could represent himself. The judge ordered that the PD stay on as “stand by” counsel, meaning he would be there as a resource for the defendant but not act as his lawyer.

Around the same time as this defendant got in trouble, one of the detectives on the d**g task force got fired for having s*x with an informant. The detective and informant were not involved in this defendants case. At trial, acting as his own lawyer, defendant tried to argue that the issue with the fired detective had an effect on his case. The judge had ruled pretrial that this was inadmissible because it wasn’t related to his case. He nonetheless tried to argue it anyway and almost caused a mistrial.

While on the witness stand he admitted to conducting a d**g transaction with the undercover detective, basically proving the prosecution’s case. He was found guilty.

I was again appointed in a post conviction petition. Again, everything was everyone else’s fault. He said he should have been able to argue that the d**g task force was corrupt. He argued that his prior lawyer was corrupt because he suggested cooperating with the d**g task force. All sorts of nonsense. The dude admitted at trial that he did it. That hearing was quick too, and he went back to jail.

He then filed a subsequent post conviction petition arguing that I was ineffective but somehow his subsequent lawyer was able to convince him he has no case so they withdrew it.

So I suppose the hardest clients to defend are the ones that blame everyone else for their problems and can’t see that all their problems are their own doing. And those guys always file post conviction petitions because they have nothing to lose. I’ve stopped taking those cases.

© Photo: xLiquidx

#14

This will get buried but here goes.

I externed at the public defender’s office during law school to gain some easy practical credits. On my second day, I was informed that I would be primarily working on a case involving a local hero who had been charged with possession, production, and distribution of p****graphy involving a minor, witness tampering, and a*****t (non-s****l). Already not a case I particularly wanted to work on, but it got worse when I learned that this defendant had made something like 2,000 calls to just about everyone whose number he’d ever memorized since being arrested.

If you didn’t already know, the phones in jails/prisons record your conversations. I spent half a year listening to, in my opinion, an obvious pedophile make enough near-admissions and clear references to the victims that the PD ended up telling the guy to plead guilty to the lesser charges so he could avoid dying in prison.

I graduated and went on to become a corporate lawyer but always tell people now that if they’re ever arrested, for the love of God and the sake of your attorney’s interns, keep your mouth shut and stay away from the jailhouse phone.

© Photo: pudgesquire

#15

One of my clients stabbed a McDonald’s employee through the drive through window and when he was arrested they found 4 grams of powdered m***hine in his sock.

© Photo: anon

Research has shown that lawyers as a whole already face elevated mental health challenges compared to the general population. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine found that 28% of lawyers reported struggling with depression, while 19% reported anxiety, rates significantly higher than average. Criminal defense attorneys are often vulnerable due to the nature of their work, where emotional pressure, ethical complexity, and repeated exposure to distressing situations are part of the job.

#16

A 16 year old kid who committed robbery and s****l a***e. He had zero remorse.

© Photo: chacarrone

#17

Workplace accident caused the d***h of a worker. I represented the company, defending against charges of negligence, various health and safety violations. The owner clearly didn’t take safety seriously and constantly complained about was how this was hurting his business,.

© Photo: Mondaxter

#18

So. Many. But he was a man in and out of prison and with clear mental illness and aggression issues. He was very threatening, rude, and psychotic (I can’t give details but use your imagination).

Anyway, during his trial, he appeared by telephone (use your imagination why). When the opposing counsel began to give his opening speech, my client began screaming that the lawyer is a liar, liar, total f*****g b******t etc. I’m telling my client to let the attorney finish and we’ll have our time later.

The client screams at me that if I can’t correct the lies, he’ll have to do it himself. I tell him there’s a procedure and we can correct any lies when it’s our turn. He pipes down. The other lawyer continues. My client is snickering angry remarks under his breath, like “f*****g b******t” etc. He then starts to scream at the other lawyer. The judge quiets him down but now he’s yelling at the judge and s**t is getting real. I’m telling my client to listen to the judge and NOT talk over him. Client finally ends his screaming. We barely finish. More snarky interruptions from my client ensue until the judge says that if I cannot control my client (YES LIKE A F*****G TODDLER), that he’d lose the right to talk for the remainder of the trial.

Somehow my client makes it through without screaming, and whenever he is close to yelling, I have to calm him down like “Mr. X, don’t worry we’ll have our turn.” The judge is pissed as f**k because what should’ve taken an hour took two and a half. Then he says, “any final remarks,” and I s**t you not, my client addresses me and is like, “am I allowed to say that if the judge doesn’t side with me, I’m going to…” I cut him off immediately, and was like no, unless there was any evidence missing, there’s nothing more.

‘Til this day I’m not sure what he was going to say but based on a prior conversation where he said he’d “bash someone’s head in” if they got in the way of his goals on the streets, I suspect it may have been threatening.

Anyway, we lost the trial. Many weeks later, I heard that people from several rooms away heard my client screaming during his trial.

© Photo: anon

Burnout is another major concern within the profession. A 2020 study conducted by the American Bar Association highlighted that 40% of criminal defense attorneys experience burnout at some point in their careers. The reasons are rarely simple. Heavy caseloads, emotionally taxing trials, and the constant pressure of safeguarding constitutional rights within an adversarial legal system can wear even the most experienced professionals down over time.

#19

Had a client who wanted a eight figure settlement for an employment discrimination case, threatened to file a state bar complaint because I told her the case wasn’t worth it, wouldn’t consent to letting me withdraw, and basically took her legal advice from God instead of me.

© Photo: ImAGeneral___Wee

#20

My court career was very short (I really didn’t enjoy doing it), but I had one client who refused to listen to me, give me instructions or respond to my calls. I can’t even remember why he was in court in the first place: maybe we were trying to defend a claim of shoddy workmanship he’d done or something. Anyway, the situation became untenable, and, in England, if you are the lawyer acting in a litigation case (called “on the record”) it’s actually really difficult to stop acting for the client, unless they agree. You have to go to court and get a court order.

English lawyers who trained in London will be familiar with the bear garden: it’s a place in the Royal Courts of Justice where a scary guy called a Master handles a long line of low level procedural issues (can we have another 5 days to file a defence? can we postpone the trial for two weeks because a key witness is in hospital – that sort of thing). He also handles applications to come off the record. Now, I wasn’t expecting my client to turn up, but I spotted him lurking at the back of the room.

So, finally, the Master calls me and asks me about the application and why I wanted to come off the record.

“We are not able to get instructions from the client,” said I.

“Well, that’s fairly unusual. I don’t like granting orders on that basis. Have you tried calling him, going to his place of work, that sort of thing?”

At this point I turned to the client who was at the back of the room smirking.

“Excuse me, Master, I need to take instructions from my client.”

The Master raises his eyebrow.

I turn to the client and say “So what do you want me to do now?”

“F**k off” he says.

“Application granted” says the Master.

tl;dr Client told me to f**k off in court. The judge gave me the order I wanted.

© Photo: purrcthrowa

#21

Client showed up drunk for preliminary hearing on DWI. Had him wait in hall, told judge he was out there. – didn’t mention he was drunk. Somehow convinced judge to continue prelim based on total creative concoction. If he’d come in the judge would have locked him up for public intoxication and been hot at DWI sentencing. Maybe the Judge remembered his Pre bench days just gave us a break.

© Photo: MidwestAmMan

To cope with these pressures, many defense attorneys rely on intentional strategies to protect their mental well-being. Setting firm boundaries between work and personal life can help create emotional distance after especially difficult cases. Others turn to therapy, peer support groups, mentorship, or confidential professional guidance to process what they experience. Creating spaces where legal professionals can openly discuss these challenges without stigma is becoming increasingly recognized as essential for long-term resilience.

#22

Not a lawyer but led a tenant case. Out of 20 families I could not find a single person I could put up on the stand to bring our case out. The two best candidates, one couldn’t get off the “I want” and the other kept throwing me under the bus in settlement talks by contradicting me.

All that was required was to answer questions about living conditions.

Put in 500+ hours learning how to argue a case properly, still got them a good deal, and not a single one said so much as a thank you.

© Photo: JMJimmy

#23

Early in my career I had to defend this gang banger type guy clearly guilty of d**g trafficking and gun charges–caught d**d to rights. The guy was caught was several POUNDS of various d***s and a number of stolen handguns with his prints all over it. One of the guns ended up being traced back to a m****r that happened a few years earlier. The only thing is that the cops messed up his arrest so he ended up getting off.

The cops ended up pulling down the guy’s pants during the arrest and were taking polaroids during the arrest (this was the late 90’s). To be specific, the cops had this guy’s p***s out and they were taking pictures with their faces near it, holding one of those crime scene scale rulers next to it, touching it, and one of the cops even put it in his mouth in one picture.

Part of me was excited that there was such a clear cut case of the cops bungling an arrest to such a degree that the whole case got thrown out, but this guy was clearly guilty and got picked up on a m****r charge a few years later. Maybe the couple he k****d would still be alive if the cops weren’t so perverted in their arrest.

© Photo: anon

#24

These three numbskulls broke into a mortuary (well, it was unlocked but still unlawful entry), cut off the head of a corpse, and violated the trachea. I did my best to make a decent closing argument but all the prosecutor did for their closing statement was play the videotape of the incident. Seriously, what kind of a moron videotapes themselves doing this kind of stuff anyway?

Of course all three got convicted.

© Photo: shemnon

At its core, the justice system depends on the principle that every person deserves equal representation under the law. That right is not always easy to uphold, particularly in cases involving deeply troubling allegations, but it remains essential to ensuring fairness and accountability. Defense attorneys often carry this responsibility quietly, navigating emotional complexity while serving a role that protects the integrity of the entire legal process.

#25

Clients who keep breaching their restraining orders or mutual no contact orders. I’m a family lawyer, so I’m not defending them when they’re charged for it, but those charges then f**k with their careers or get brought up later when we’re trying to figure out parenting.

HOW HARD IS IT NOT TO TEXT THEM OR GO TO THEIR HOUSE F**K SAKES STOP IT.

© Photo: LJofthelaw

#26

Maybe a weird answer, but: the ones who I think are innocent. It really means their life and their future is depending on you. If the client really did the crime, it’s… lower stakes, I guess. You can spool up fancy tricks and wait for prosecutors to make a mistake, and the feeling of losing isn’t nearly as devastating. It’s just me and my philosophical opposition to the prison complex, out there takin swings at the government.

My personal hardest was a person who had lived a life of hardship and a***e, who was mentally r******d, and charged with years of “welfare fraud”… by which I mean they filled out the paperwork wrong in many ways but one or two of those ways caused overpayment of about $1,000 per year in food stamps. Completely spent on food, not traded or anything. The overpayment only existed for three out of the six previous years. They got convicted on zero evidence of any intent to lie to the state.

$3k over six years… all spent on food… I still don’t understand why the state wanted to make them a felon based on those facts.

Still hurts to think that I lost that case. I’ll d*e mad about it.

© Photo: anon

#27

Not a lawyer. My wife is a prosecutor. She has listened to jail calls on multiple occasions for multiple defendants talking to associates on the outside about murdering their attorney because they don’t like how they are handling the case. Seriously. One attorney filed a motion to drop the client. The other did not. So clients trying to have you m******d gets my vote.

© Photo: DONT_PM_ME_BREASTS

Coming back to these stories, they offer a rare glimpse into the emotional realities lawyers sometimes face behind the courtroom doors. They remind us that legal work is not just about statutes and arguments, but also about human complexity, ethical tension, and difficult decisions. Which of these stories made you stop and think the most about what it means to defend justice, even when the circumstances are deeply uncomfortable?

#28

The one who was low key hallucinating. Mental illness is a b***h.

© Photo: sykopoet

#29

Not sure if it counts because I didn’t go to court with it. Basically my client department was in the wrong and had caused a spat between themselves and a member of the public. They asked for my advice on how to rectify this amicably. I spent hours on this researching legislation and getting advice from colleagues, etc before writing a report explaining exactly what they should do… and what happens? They do not follow my advice and do the exact opposite of what I had said in each of my points.

They came back asking for help with the impending court case but became angry when I explained that there was no legal loophole or get out here – the loophole was following my advice in the first place. I flat out refused to defend them in the end and when they complained to my manager she completely backed me – I think she sent someone to act in court but explained that there was now no chance in hell that they’d get the outcome that they wanted. Clients who have unreasonable expectations due to legal dramas are the worst.

© Photo: birchpiece91

#30

I was hired to defend a man who m****ted his own daughter for 8 years. He forced her to perform o*al s*x on him when she was 9 years old. He didn’t stop m****ting her until she was 17 and she told a friend, leading to everything coming out and him being arrested and charged. He spoke with detectives and admitted to almost everything, enough to have a slam-dunk conviction. I managed to negotiate a good plea deal that left a lot of his sentence in the hands of the judge and focused on every intensive therapy program available over straight incarceration.

Because the sentence was up to the judge’s discretion, I had a duty at sentencing to argue mitigating factors and aggravating factors. It was not easy to argue for a lighter sentence without downplaying the absolutely despicable things he did. It was also hard to swallow my utter disgust for him and remember that I was playing a crucial role in our justice system. On a personal level, I really wanted to tell the judge, “Lock him up for life, he doesn’t deserve to live among society.”

The second hardest was when I was working in insurance defense. An insurance company hired my firm to defend a truck driver being sued after a small boy ran in front of his truck. The boy was k****d in horrific fashion and the whole situation was tragic all around. The boy’s circumstances were even sadder. He was conceived out of an affair. His dad wanted nothing to do with him and was a total deadbeat. His conception ended his mom’s marriage and she passed away when he was a baby.

His mom’s ex-husband refused to take him. He was living with his grandmother in a run down trailer and his deadbeat uncle was watching him. Nobody had taught him to look both ways. His uncle walked him up to a gas station and on the way back, the kid ran into the street in front of a truck going 30 m.p.h. The scene photos are still seared in my brain. The truck driver was s******l for awhile. And the family that never wanted the child sued this poor b*****d and his employer for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It settled for virtually nothing in the end. Basically enough to cover the funeral with a few bucks left over.

© Photo: anon

#31

No real attorney is going to reply to reply to this, because talking about clients with any sort of specificity is a no no.

Also, the reason attorneys represent folks that may be guilty: part of the swearing in for a law license is an oath to zealously advocate for your client. If the US justice system relied on attorneys to only defend innocent clients, it would incentivize clients to lie to their attorneys. The only reason the system works is because defendants can be 100% honest about their case and the attorney presents the best case possible (without lying, concealing evidence, etc).

It may sound sleazy, but if a lawyer wasn’t expected to zealously advocate for every client the system wouldn’t work. That being said, the hardest client I ever represented in court accidentally took Viagra instead of his blood pressure meds.

#32

Not me but one of my friend’s mom is a lawyer. She had a case of domestic a***e but this time , the victim was a man. The man was a****d by his wife and his mother in law. Although he had brushes and burns, the lawyer had a hard time defending him. The man was reluctant for a divorce as he feared he would lose his only daughter. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.

#33

My corporate attorney used to do criminal defense work. He said the hardest cases were the ones where he knew his client was innocent. It’s why he switched practices. The pressure was ruining his health.

#34

(Alleged) S*x offender and r***ist that I managed to get found not guilty. He has sent me messages of a s****l nature and videos of himself working out across various platforms in the years since (I block him and he finds me somewhere else). I was early 30s at the time. I’m female.

#35

I was a public defender and had an older white man as a client who beat up a teenager in a drunk driving road rage incident. The kid testified at a preliminary hearing and thanks to some handy work I got all the charges dismissed. The hard part was the kid was 17 and very gay. My client admitted to me and anyone else that would hear it that he was trying to get some Jesus in the kid and “make him right.” I never told my client and it’s not exactly obvious but I am also very very gay. It was a real moral and ethical struggle.

#36

Not a lawyer, but a juror on a m****r case. Testimony from 3 or 4 eyewitness is given saying the defendant (while tresspassing on the victim’s property) got into an argument with the victim, took a purse/small bag away from the victim, pulled a gun out of the bag, and shot the victim point blank, k*****g him. The defendant’s excuse boiled down to “Yeah, I shot him but I didn’t mean to k**l him.” The defense attorney argued so hard for m****r 2 or manslaughter. Not a chance. I kind of feel for the guy, and his mother (one of the witnesses), but hot d**n he basically admitted to the crime. Just another bad descision in a life full of them.

#37

Not a lawyer, but my dad was, and he loves to tell this story.

He decided to take a case to defend a man who had k****d another man in self defense.

I don’t remember what started the fight, but two men got in a fight. My dad’s client tried to run away and get in his truck and drive off. Well as he tried to get in, the other man grabbed his leg and started to bend it around the door frame (in an attempt to break the leg). The man trying to flee managed to get ahold of his pistol he kept in the truck and shot the guy trying to break his leg.

In most cases this would be a pretty cut and dry self defence case. Unfortunately there were no witnesses and the man defending himself shot every round in the magazine (7-10) Into the other guy.

The other side was trying to prove it wasn’t self defense since he shot so many times, and unfortunately since there is precedent for this kind of argument, it was working.

I wish I remembered more details, but basically he was able to prove that based on the way the events played out, when the man was shot he fell forward as opposed to falling away from the man defending himself and due to that the client felt like he was still in danger after the initial shot so he kept shooting.

#38

I’ll speak from the other side as I prefer to be on the offense. (And I have to be kind of vague because it is family law) The last paragraph is the really rough part.

Bit of background we (on both sides) are completely used to parents being unreasonable and yelling, not agreeing to things…like look you have no electricity in your house it is winter the kids need to be somewhere properly heated. No a barrel burning parts of the wall is not sufficient.

There was a woman on…substantial d***s. Her parents were more or less taking care of the kid(s), she attacked her dad more than once…yeah real great. Rather than agree that she needed help she fought tooth and nail with basically a Qanon level conspiracy about how the courts, county, her attorney, the d**g lab, her parents…you get the idea are all working against her for some reason. We go through the hearing, which was painful because I had to call her dad to testify and really tried to be gentle but the other attorneys (Worth noting in child neglect cases the government gets an attorney, each parent (if applicable) gets an attorney, the child gets an attorney (most of the time the children share one but it is possible for each to get their own, it is even possible for one child to get 2 if their personal/legal interests are opposed to each other…so yeah quite a few of us get to ask questions) weren’t. Like dude I get defending your client but this poor old man is crying about how he just wants her to get better. She is of course half frantically writing notes to her attorney half just sitting there.

She testifies it is of course a broad denial. The judge actually asks her if she was d**g tested right now would she pass. ‘Of course judge’ well how unlucky for her that someone from the testing center (across the street) was called and ready. Spoiler alert she didn’t pass. The entire hearing and chaos could have been avoided by doing that first. (basically unless it is just m*******a/alcohol if you test positive you lose in child a***e/neglect cases).

from Bored Panda https://ift.tt/CWz79vj
via IFTTT source site : boredpanda