Review of "Presumed Guilty: Tales of the Public Defenders"

Joshua Bozeman

This is one of the best programs I have ever seen on public defenders, and attorneys in general for that matter. You get a full range of characters here...from the young public defender who has been on the job for over a decade to the older defender who served in Vietnam and has made this job the center piece of his life (they all seem to have in reality), to the newcomer who is winning her first case. These are great stories of great people...they don't make a lot of money, and none of them have any fame...but they defend those who cannot afford high priced attorneys in fancy suits because they want to...they need to. It's their passion, and that's clear by seeing them in the office in the middle of the night after only a couple of hours sleep, while everyone else is at home in a nice warm bed.

This program deals with some small crimes as was the case with the young woman who is new to the whole thing, and it also deals with much more serious crimes such as murder as was the case with Adachi and Maas. The most exciting case by far was the murder case that Maas was involved in...he's a great attorney and seems to be an even greater man...it was like watching the best movie lawyer but im a smaller court room and on a smaller screen. He believes in fairness and forgiveness, always mentioning the fact that he believes all humans are redeemable...forgiveness being the main principle of his life. He talks about his battle with alcohol and his stint in Vietnam where he learned many of the lessons that have formed his morality in and out of the court room. His video diaries are a nice touch, as you get to see him alone talking to the camera about his times in Vietnam and his up and down moods in regards to the case and how well he is doing.

You get a sense of how corrupt some individuals can be as well. For example, the police who repeatedly lied to suspects to try to coax them into confessing...how some of these suspects seem to be guilty until proven innocent...how some people have such an extreme bias against anyone on the other side of the table in the interrogation room.

You also get to see how unfair the system and life in general can be. This was the case with Jeff Adachi who worked in the public defender's office for over a decade and would soon take over when his boss retired. His boss suddenly resigned and mayor Brown of San Francisco appointed a young woman who he said he knew since her birth...he was a good friend of her father's, etc. He mentioned that he never even considered anyone else for the job, which hurt and somewhat angered Adachi, since he was running for the office, and Mayor Brown didn't even consider him for the position. Kim Burton, the woman appointed to the position took over and her first action on the job was to fire Adachi, telling him (in a typed letter) that they no longer needed his services in the office. He was cleary upset by the unfairness of this, and he mentioned the fact that it was obvious the only reason she made the decision was because he announced his campaign a couple of years before she did. It makes you angry to see such favors by politicians and such unfair actions by the higher- ups. He got the last laugh tho when election time came and he defeated Burton and became the head of the public defender's office.

This is a great documentary that needs to be seen by all. It shows you that some people fight long and hard for little in material reward...it also showed me that even the toughest of people who can commit murder still have a heart- even the decency to express love to people who are in some way strangers (their public defenders.) Very moving and exciting program.