ce with his hands. His efforts are futile. He succeeds only in exposing his handcuffs to the bright television lights. In the background, a reporter's urgent voice describes the despicable act which led to the young man's capture" (Nunn, 1995, 744). He follows that dramatic opening by a statement of mea culpa, wondering whether he, as a Public Defender could possibly, given the current states of the court, be of any benefit to this young man. "Could I be of any help to him? Or would I be essentially useless, since he had already been tried and convicted on television and in the hearts and minds of any potential jurors?" (Nunn, 1995, 744).
In frank revelations, Nunn confesses that, in reality, he might be able to lessen the juggernaut of the State, he might be able to ensure that no shortcuts were taken, but acquittals were the exception rather than the rule, and, in trial after trial, Nunn felt useless and impotent, an:
irrelevant, player in a game with a predetermined outcome. The centerpiece of the criminal justice system - the trial - is itself a sham. It is not, in the main, a mechanism for determining the truth. In the majority of criminal cases, the truth is already assumed from the start. While belief in the presumption of i
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