You can’t really understand an issue without being on both side of it at one time or another. When I worked as a Miami prosecutor, I only saw all of the evil and horror perpetrated by criminals on the street. I scorned Miami criminal attorneys. In my opinion, most of the people brought to trial should also be brought to justice. They were overwhelmingly guilty, and it was my job to prove it to a jury.
Since I have started work as a Miami criminal attorney, however, I have seen how much more complex the issues are. As a law and order type, it was easy for me to see things in black and white. Working as a Miami criminal defense attorney, however, has changed and added color to my views.
My dad was a cop, and he taught us a pretty simple and straightforward view of right and wrong. Basically, cops see the world as if it were a comic book. There are heroes and there are villains, and then there are civilians sitting on the sidelines. When I left the prosecutor’s office to become a Miami criminal attorney, he was devastated. He never thought he would have a son working as a Miami criminal lawyer. It took him months to be able to even speak to me again.
Nonetheless, my work as Miami criminal attorney has been good for both of us. I have been able to work with many people who, if situations would have been different, would never have gotten into trouble in the first place. Some of them are the victim of bad economic situations, others of incompetent police, and a few are the victims of frame ups. I’m not saying that everyone who Miami criminal attorneys see is innocent. What I am saying is that more of them are innocent than most people would be comfortable with admitting.
I think that talking to me since I have become a Miami criminal attorney has made my father a better cop. He won’t tell me that I have changed his opinions on anything ? he is a pretty stubborn minded individual ? but I can see the changes. I think he is more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Cops see so many awful things every day that they tend to develop a pretty cynical view of human nature. Working as a Miami criminal attorney, I can tell him that things aren’t always as they appear to be. Sometimes good people are just caught in bad situations.
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