Black Chicago public defender set to defend a white supremacist who burned a black family's house do - Polidicks

[quote]MiAngel Cody, a young federal defender, was running an hour late for her 9:30 a.m. appearance in Courtroom 1386. Representing a man on a deportation charge five floors away in the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, she had no time to research her next case: 12 CR 00395. Such is the grind for a public defender on "duty day" — representing clients who can't afford a private attorney for their initial court appearance. It wasn't until Cody reached the courtroom and leafed through the indictment that she learned the details of the charges against the heavily tattooed white man sitting next to her — he was accused of setting fire to his neighbor's home because the family was black. Cody is African-American. She had just been appointed to defend an alleged white supremacist. Cody privately conferred at some length with defendant Brian James Moudry and then stood next to him before a federal judge to enter a plea of not guilty on Moudry's behalf. Appointed by the court to represent the indigent Moudry, Cody is scheduled to be by his side again when the case is back in court later this week. Cody would not consent to an interview for this article. And efforts to reach Moudry, who is locked up in a downtown federal jail, or his family were unsuccessful. But from the outside, the pairing would appear to be an uncomfortable one for both client and attorney. Veteran criminal-defense lawyers, however, say attorneys often have to set aside personal misgivings about clients to fulfill their ethical obligations and ensure that justice is done. Those who know Cody said she is too committed to the defense of the poor to let Moudry's beliefs interfere with her work. "Our job is to represent people charged," said Terry MacCarthy, who ran the federal defender's office in Chicago for 42 years and still has an office there. "A good criminal-defense attorney can handle anything … He'll be in real good hands with her. She is one very good and very bright lawyer." Moudry, 35, grew up in Marquette Park, a Chicago neighborhood with a history of racial tension, most notably in 1966 when Martin Luther King Jr. marched there to protest racist housing policies. Angry white residents lined the streets and pelted black marchers with rocks and bottles. By contrast, Cody, 32, is a product of the South whose ancestors were sharecroppers and later civil rights activists, friends and family said. Fresh out of law school, she worked as a law clerk for a federal judge in Montgomery, Ala., where a 1955 bus boycott to protest segregation became a seminal moment in the civil rights struggle. The two's paths crossed by happenstance. Moudry, who didn't have the money to hire an attorney, made his initial court appearance on the day Cody pulled "duty day" — a regular assignment for the attorneys in the federal defender's office. The cases can vary widely — a single day could bring an accused drug trafficker, bank robber and child pornographer. Among the three cases Cody picked up on May 31 was Moudry's. The attorney appointed on that first day typically stays with the case to its conclusion. "It is the difference between my job and her job," said Ronald Safer, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice who knows Cody from her stint at the same law firm. "I can say 'no, I detest what this person stands for, so I don't care whether he has committed the crime.' She has picked a job where she does not have that luxury. And that is one of the things that makes that job — the public defender — the most difficult job that exists in the legal system." Moudry, who later moved to Joliet, is facing federal civil rights and arson charges for allegedly setting the residential fire there in 2007. Eight children and one adult were at home, but no one was injured in the early morning blaze. Moudry was previously convicted of a separate hate crime in Will County in 1999, court records show. Sitting in court late last month, Moudry's tattoos provided a billboard of his white supremacist views: "Blue Eyed Devil" is scrawled on the back of his shaved head and the number "14" is imprinted on his throat — an apparent reference to a 14-word pledge to white power. Several criminal-defense attorneys said it isn't uncommon to represent a client whose beliefs are abhorrent to them. One recalled a defendant who was bothered by the lawyer's Jewish faith. In Cook County, a defendant once unsuccessfully tried to ditch his public defender because she was a woman. Most of the times, the attorneys said, they strive to provide a vigorous defense for those clients — sometimes even more so because of the ideological clash. And the truth is clients are often won over, they said. Yet Cody's race goes to the heart of the charges against her client, adding an extra layer of scrutiny for her, said one lawyer who faced a similar predicament. "She is going to have to decide if she can separate his potential hatred for her ... or the potential hatred for African-Americans … to do her job," said Nishay Sanan, an Indian-American attorney who represented a self-avowed white supremacist in federal court in Chicago. "Good lawyers have to separate their feelings from their clients' ideologies. Otherwise, a lot of clients wouldn't be defended." In Sanan's case, the supremacist's family had hired him, so he could have declined to take him as a client. Sanan had no qualms about defending a white supremacist, however, and at trial, he even played up their differences, telling the jury during closing arguments that he was offended by his client's beliefs but defended his First Amendment rights to express them.[/quote] [url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-defending-a-supremacist-20120610,0,2147852.story[/url]

Because this won't get declared a mistrial right after.

Bet you $5 people will whine SHE WAS BIASED if/when he gets convicted.

This, in a way, reminds me of the novel "To Kill a Mocking Bird".

Anyone else think this would make for an interesting move/book?

[QUOTE=Doctor Death921;36277281]This, in a way, reminds me of the novel "To Kill a Mocking Bird".[/QUOTE] TKaM, with a twist!

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;36277332]Anyone else think this would make for an interesting move/book?[/QUOTE] My first thought was "Someone somewhere in the appointing process had a hearty laugh with this one". But yeah, it's basically ripe for that.

I don't see why race is important. If a white supremacist burned down a black home and was defended by a white man, it would be the same situation.

[QUOTE=The Worm;36279079]I don't see why race is important. If a white supremacist burned down a black home and was defended by a white man, it would be the same situation.[/QUOTE] No it wouldn't. If the supremacist is convicted, tons of people will say "She's black and so she didn't defend a white supremacist to the best of her ability".

Thats his job, regardless of if he/she dislikes what the criminal did.

so basically you're telling me that a public defender is doing her job to keep the justice system from becoming unfair. shocking news

What if they like fall in love or she redeems the dark part of his psyche or some other sappy bullshit and everybody goes home happy after lots of apologies and hugs?

This really doesn't deserve this long of an article.

Woah, hold up. You're telling me, that a public defence attorney is set to defend a client who is accused of something that said attorney may find reprehensible stop presses

Her name is MiAngel, of fucking course

If there's any type of lawyer that has an ounce of integrity, it's a public defender.

I see a possible movie ending where the white supremacist is found guilty, but goes to jail with a profound respect for black people.

[QUOTE=RichyZ;36281793]or a hispanic lawyer[/QUOTE] uhh did you [I]see[/I] the third season of Dexter?

[QUOTE=Doctor Death921;36277281]This, in a way, reminds me of the novel "To Kill a Mocking Bird".[/QUOTE] Fuck you and everybody that looks like you i was going to reference that

It's like a sitcom.

[QUOTE=Dog;36282453]It's like a sitcom.[/QUOTE]I was thinking its more like one of those Court Dramas where the wisened senior lawyer assigns the inexperienced apprentice to a case that goes in defiance of her very person to teach her the value of staying unbiased no matter what the case is.

[QUOTE=Forumaster;36279134]No it wouldn't. If the supremacist is convicted, tons of people will say "She's black and so she didn't defend a white supremacist to the best of her ability".[/QUOTE] I think most people have full confidence in public defenders ablilities to stay professional.