Article May 20, 2002 Issue

Criminal defense as spiritual practice

By Maitreya Badami

Might as well start out with some blasphemy. I think Jesus would approve of our work as criminal defense attorneys.

Now that I've gotten the really controversial stuff out on the table, permit me to provide some background: I am a criminal defense practitioner, in private practice. I've been doing this work for eight years. In that time I have worked on a wide variety of cases, including domestic violence, murder, and child molestation. I have encountered the obligatory questioning of friends, family, and mere acquaintances: "How can you do that?" and "Do you represent people even if you know they are guilty?" and the other standard queries. My responses have changed since I started working—they've been informed by more experience and by many discussions with other criminal practitioners. But the most significant influence in forming my current set of answers has been the relationships that I have developed with my clients.

One case in particular comes to mind. Our client was accused of membership in a drug-distribution conspiracy in Oakland. A black man in his late 20s, the client had run with the same crowd of guys since his early childhood, and there was no end to the unsavory activities some of his friends had engaged in. While I never knew, of course, the exact extent of my client's participation in the drug dealing or related acts of violence, I did come to know—at some level—the client himself. I don't kid myself that clients reveal themselves fully to me, particularly in cases like this one in which I am appointed by the court to represent them. But this client shared some aspects of himself that let me see a little further into his character than the jury ever saw.

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