From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 00:55:47 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: An end to "court appointed attorneys"
In-Reply-To: <199708200700.JAA25135@basement.replay.com>
Message-ID: <v03102800b020ce21f94c@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain





First off, I don't believe _anyone_ should ever have a "court-appointed
attorney." We don't believe people should get state-subsidized food, or
shelter, or medical care, and so on....or at least most of us don't. So why
the big exception for hiring attorneys?

Second, nothing I have seen, and I've seen a lot, could've gotten McVeigh
off. While I can understand what his mental state may have been, and thus
can"understand" his motives, the facts are pretty clear that he did it.

It is conceivable that a "dream team" costing many millions of dollars, a
la Johnny Cockroach and the rest of the Simpson team, could have obfuscated
issues, confused a jury, etc., and gotten at least a mistrial (meaning:
more millions for them in Round Two).

But why should I pay for such a team? I paid too much for the Stephen
Jones/Jeralyn Merritt/etc. team as it was.

At 12:00 AM -0700 8/20/97, Anonymous wrote:

>  We have already seen the results of Tim McVeigh wanting his government
>schill replaced--a big FUCK YOU.
>  McVeigh's problem is not weakness, but lack of knowledge about the
>legal system and the quality of his legal representation. Unfortunately,
>I have no doubt that the government already has lawyers in place whose
>job thus far has been to gain McVeigh's trust, so that they can screw
>up his appeals, as well.

It's time to stop this "court appointed attorney" nonsense. If we as a
nation want to change our legal system to one where the court appoints both
sides of a case, prosecution and defense, as in many other countries, fine.
But it's absurd to finance the hiring of defense lawyers.

A better solution is to have relatively few things that are criminal, with
no laws against most of the things that now clog the courts. And short
trial, with none of the bullshit we saw in the Simpson case (or in any of
the other show trials of late). And no court appointed attorneys.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
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