If you’ve read enough of what I’ve had to say over the last year, then you know that I exult in second chances. I fervently seek, hunt for and mine opportunities for people who need second chances, third chances and more. Sometimes people need a hand into a lifeboat and the way back to dry land.
[nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-3″] experiences collective joy when we win a sentence modification or a pardon for one of our people. Modifications and pardons aren’t easy; in Connecticut they are a long time coming and they are based upon authentic merit.
Pardons grow out of the redemptive, self-scrutinized struggle of people who recreate themselves.
So, it’s disturbing to have already fielded a call from someone who would like to apply for a pardon and cited as one of the reasons that he should be pardoned because “The president pardoned that sheriff from Arizona”.
This isn’t a political commentary. I’m commenting on the integrity of the courts and our system of laws.
Might does not make right and the system only works when all of the participants, from police to defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, legislators and presidents fulfill their role. Those roles don’t only require doing what the law permits, but doing what the law requires.
And what the law requires, always, is both fairness and the appearance of fairness.
We work hard for people who themselves work hard in order to change their lives. People everywhere yearn for and desperately need to be pardoned; personally and legally. When an occupant of an Executive office tosses a pardon to a friend as though it’s an arcade token, the Constitution, our laws, our courts and our sense of justice is devalued.
[nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-3″] understands the court system from all angles and every dimension. We fight for the liberty, redemption and future of the people who seek our advocacy. Notwithstanding Joe Arpaio or any other pal who might catch a token tossed by the President, we will continue advocating and fighting and rebuilding lives every day, brick-by-brick, straight and plumb. That’s the way it’s done.
