[jpl]

What if the lawyer doesn't know whether the client is guilty? Most lawyers won't ask, at least not directly.

Approximately 90% of all defendants who appear in court are guilty of the crime for which they are accused. Every lawyer in America knows this.

[Stone Mountain]

Approximately 90% of all defendants who appear in court are guilty of the crime for which they are accused.

Source? Even if this were true, that leaves one out of ten people who are appearing in court despite being innocent of the crime for which they are accused. It is that 10% that we should be worried about. I believe that "Better 10 guilty men go free than 1 innocent man be jailed."

[grasshopper]

Approximately 90% of all defendants who appear in court are guilty

Man, how can you be so wrong!!!!

In Illinois, since 1973, 13 innocent people have been freed from death row in the time that 12 were executed. Governor George Ryan, a supporter of the death penalty, has done two things in response: He has effectively imposed a moratorium on executions and established a blue ribbon commission to review the administration of capital punishment in Illinois.
The source.

This is only from the death row where you would expect the highest degree of certainty of the conviction.

BTW O'Reilly is not the sharpest knife in the drawer ;-)

[lawgirl]

Approximately 90% of all defendants who appear in court are guilty of the crime for which they are accused. Every lawyer in America knows this.

I am a lawyer and I have never heard this. I would also like to know where you got your statistics from.

I think everyone needs to remember that a few bad apples spoil the bunch. I have also seen lawyers fight tooth and nail for the clients and forgo payment in the end because their client couldn't pay. I currently work for an attorney that has put up millions of his own dollars to fight a corporation as well as their hired thug attorneys. SOme attorneys have no scruples, but I firmly believe they are NOT the majority.