THE CORRUPTION OF JUSTICE

Ask me who are the salt of the earth, and I'll answer, criminal
defense attorneys.

For many an unfortunate, they are the first and last line of defense,
and even though the criminal bar has its share of frauds and
deadbeats, the crimina1 defense is packed with selfless types who
work extremely hard for not much money. They see the system in all its
arrogance and cruelty, and fight it. every day.

One of the best defense attorneys on the West Coast Is Tony Serra.
famous for defending Native Americans. I shared a platform with him
one time, raising money for his defense of Bear Lincoln, who was
charged with killing a sheriff's deputy in Mendocino County. Serra
got Bear out of the capital charges. a tremendous achievement in a
county not noted -- (but then, what county in the United States is?) -- for
its compassion toward the first Americans.

At that time. Serra gave a striking account of what he calIed the
KGB'ing of America. From time to time, in speech or print, he reprises
the theme, and it is worth repeating.

Problem No, 1: snitches. Ever since torture ("the third degree") was
phased out In the early 1930s as the prime investigative tool of law
enforcement, the culture of snitching has metastasized.

As Serra points out, If defense attorneys went out and bought
witnesses, they'd be hit with charges of obstructing justice. But
prosecutors routinely slide witnesses wads of cash and hold out that
infinitely potent bribe -- freedom, or the prospect of freedom on an
accelerated schedule. The texture of criminal justice is that of
snitching, of confecting false testimony, of bearing false witness.
The beating heart of the criminaI justice system today is the snitch.

Serra's next complaint is about grand juries, whose use has grown at a
staggering rate over the past generation.

"Today," Serra points out. "99.9 percent of all federal cases involve
indictment by a grand jury. That means no preliminary hearing, no
discovery prior to indictment, no confrontation, no lawyer present on
behalf of the accused. (Unless you happen to be Bill Clinton,
president of the United States.) The accused isn't there and doesn't
see, hear, confront or cross-examine his or her accusers."

Next: mandatory sentences, which are an obvious abuse of the constitutional
principle of separation of powers, since the law enforcement agencies now
stipulate the sentences and the judiciary has to go along.

Serra finally points his finger at the eroding of bail. These days,
there's a presumption against bail -and consequently an onslaught on
the fundamental presumption of innocence. The jails' are filled with
unconvicted people.

And finally, there is the constitutional right to a "speedy trial"--a
right fast becoming a joke. as people languish behind bars for a year
or more with no more legal representative speed than a drowsy snail.

There you have It. The cops abuse your Fourth Amendment protections
against search and seizure and arrest you; you are either denied bail
or have it set at a prohibitive level; so you sit in Jail for a
year. after which a jail house snitch tells the prosecutors you
confessed to him; you go up before a jury and are convicted and
mandatory sentencing puts you away for 15 years.

Will the pendulum swing the other way and the savage assault on basic
liberties be repelled? Clinton has been a nightmare on all these

Issues, as on rights of immigrants and people on Death Row. As did
Attorney General Janet Reno and the U.S. Congress. he endorsed the
100-to-1 disproportion in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine. All
the while, the crime rates have been dropping.

Perhaps sometime in the next decade, the U.S. Supreme Court will agree
- --as did a three-judge panel on the U.S. 10th Circuit last year --
that promises of reduced sentences to snitches constitutes a
prosecutorial bribe, Perhaps The Supreme Court will agree that
mandatory sentences are unconstitutional. Perhaps grand juries will be
curbed, at least in -the sealed nature of the proceedings. But
nothing will happen unless people start campaigning on the Issue and
- -unless a stint In a prosecutor's office stops being one of the prime
avenues to a political career.