WorksRight To Counsel
A compelling memoir from his law-school days in 1984, when he assisted his professor, Ron Smith, Esq., in appealing the death sentence of convicted rapist-murderer Michael Dee Mattson. Mattson had committed the most heinous crimes imaginable, brutalizing and assassinating extremely young girls in California and Nevada, stirring within Jim passions that reverted to a crime committed against his own family. But, as an attorney, wasn't he compelled to argue the best possible defense for the client? When Ron found a logical basis for overturning the verdict, one that could lead to life without parole, Jim wrestled with the notion of keeping quiet. For the truth was, he had found an even greater breach of law which, if brought before the California Supreme Court, might get their client released back into society. What to do…? These gripping moral and ethical issues are delved into on one level, as Jim tells the story of Mattson's murders and the police interrogations on a second level. As the stories mesh, we learn that the protagonist's dilemma can truly be resolved only one way. Right to Counsel
I loved this book. In his easy-to-read style, Mr. Potts brings to focus one of the most perplexing questions people have with today's attorneys: How can a lawyer's conscious allow him or her to defend a known and confessed murderer? Potts discovers evidence that could put a deranged psychopath back on the streets certainly to repeat his heinous crime, and Potts asks himself what he should do with this evidence? In this book, Potts takes you through his full range of inner conflict. He discusses his upbringing in a wholesome family and his crowing achievement of reaching Eagle Scout as a tribute to his strong morals and dedication to always do what's right. He discusses his struggle with his own conscious, himself having a younger sister who was the victim of rape. He discusses his struggle with his pregnant wife who could not fathom how he could possibly consider defending a man he knew had kidnapped, raped, sodomized and murdered several little girls, as they prepared to bring into the world a child. And he discusses how he found the strength to face his own ethics and overlay it against the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of rights afforded to any person who is brought before a court of law. Mr. Potts provides insight into a lawyer's conscience like no other book I have read. This book is an eye-opening piece of work. D. Fax Bowie Maryland Amazon.Com |
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