What is worse....?

To be unjust or unmerciful?

This question was asked of the applicants to the Public Defender's Office this past spring. We received a wide range of answers. There was no right or wrong answer, at least in my opinion, but I was looking for some real thought in the answers. I've been thinking about this a lot, especially when I consider my role as a defense attorney in the criminal justice system. To be honest, I often struggle when pursuing acquitals procedurally or during trial when I feel that somebody has committed a crime that needs to be addressed by the justice system. As a person who drives on these streets, I worry about the dangers of DUI and feel it should be punished; as a defense lawyer, I am dedicated to the principle that all need a fair trial and that accused persons need advocacy on their behalf equal to the advocacy the state receives. In other words I force myself to separate my duties as a lawyer for the indigent from my personal feelings about a particular set of facts. This struggles defines the way I view the question.

It comes into play each time I make an argument at sentencing or negotiate a plea offer. Sometimes the argument is simply asking for what is just--essentially equal in relation to others charged with the same sort of offense, and sometimes asking for mercy--special consideration because an individual's circumstances even though the crime itself would generally call for a harsher result. Here is what my answer would be . . .

It was worse to be unmerciful. To be unjust, in my opinion, is to act abritrarily--to act without regard for actual guilt or innocence, with no justification in law or fact for the decision made. True, some people will receive a fair result and others an unfair result without rhyme or reason. To act unjustly, as I consider it, is to act without regard for equity. To act unmercifully, on the other hand, means that the decision maker actually knows of specific mitigating circumstances that justify special treatment but chooses to ignore them. In other words, the decision maker disregards her knowledge why one defendant, who committed the same crime as another, shouldn't simply be lumped in with the other offender. Often these mitigators are emotional distress or desperate circumstances that don't rise to the level of legal justifications, but which clearly explain why somebody acted illegally. Unmerciful behavior surpasses arbitrariness and enters the realm of indifference. Maybe a better synonym is "heartless," with every connotation that it carries. I would rather be known as unjust than heartless.

On a side note, I think I understand now why Prof. Osler and his colleagues have been fighting so hard against the sentencing guidelines as they were/are written. Booker was hugely significant--it put the person back into sentencing; it allowed a federal judge to be both just and merciful, though perhaps only to a certain extent.

What do you think? Is it worse to be unjust or unmerciful?

Colin is already 2 weeks old!

More pictures of our "Pink and Squishy"

and extra text.

Colin Tate Corbett

6 pounds, .3 ounces; 17 1/2 inches long. All ten fingers and toes, and, unfortunately, a Corbett nose. Here are some pics:

This rainbow appeared the day Colin was born.

38 Weeks

Yesterday marked 38 weeks for our little one. The last few weeks have gone by so fast! I've been surprised at how much energy it takes to grow a baby. Things are going well, although it seems like the really good things don't come easily. After spending about 4 weeks head down and ready to go, the baby decided that this was no longer the position for him. So he did a sommersault and has stayed top side up! My doctor discovered this at my appointment last week and he decided to play the "wait and see" game, hoping that the baby would sort himself back out. No such luck. I had another appointment today, and the doctor decided the best thing is for this baby to come out, one way or another. I'm only dilated to a 2 or 3 and about half-way effaced, but the baby is just getting bigger (which means more uncomfortable for me and for him because he's not the right way) and the doctor does not want labor to start on its own since the baby's breech. So Saturday is the big day! They'll admit me Saturday and give me an epidural to keep my uterus relaxed, and then the doctor will try to flip the baby by pushing and proding him along. If it works, then the doctor will enduce labor and we'll be on our way. If the baby is engaged too much and won't move, then they'll do a c-section. The doctor thinks that Option 2 is probably what will happen. Either way, Dave and I are so excited to think that we'll be holding our little baby the day after tomorrow! We'll keep y'all posted!

Messy Bessy

Here's the painting story that Dave didn't tell you. David was a very focused and dedicated painter- He only took a break to eat some dinner. But he did have a hard time keeping the paint on the walls. I lost count of the number of times I heard my friend Barb shout, "Corbett, you're fired!" because he dripped more paint on the carpet- or rolled it on the door.
Apparently they don't teach proper painting techniques at Baylor. But even Barb had to hand it to Dave when it came to choosing the cute colors for our baby's new room. Now we just need to get the rest of it together before the little one decides to come!

Thank goodness for great people!

To help us get ready for the baby, many friends came over today to help us paint the house and prepare the nursery. The work we finished today would have taken us days on our own. Here is a picture and Clay and Celeste Stephens. Clay is standing on a step-ladder, and, as you can see, Celeste is sitting on Clay's shoulders in order to reach the top corner of the kitchen wall.