After reading and then listening (and trying to hear) the discussion about Robinson in Lawyerland, I came away feeling that it was a nice story with a Holden Caulfieldesque romanticized Robinson, complete with cursing and a swap out of Caulfield’s red hunting hat for a leather coat and a wide-brimmed Borsalino. Then I came home and I read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/nyregion/manhattan-prosecutors-wont-charge-police-commissioners-son-in-rape-accusation.html?_r=1

To sum it up, the Police Commissioner’s son won’t be charged with rape. Now whether or not he raped this woman, I don’t know and I don’t think it matters because a quick reading of the Police Commissioner’s credentials (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/raymond_w_kelly/index.html?inline=nyt-per) show me that there is no way that in this case “EQUAL AND EXACT JUSTICE TO ALL MEN OF WHATEVER STATE OR PERSUASION” was a promise that could even come close to being fulfilled (19). So whether or not I came away with full confidence in the story that Robinson told, here I understand more and it raises some questions in my mind.

I’d rather be the Police Commissioner or even his son than the woman in this case. I think Robinson says it best when he says “Sometimes I think I became a lawyer so I’d know what to do if one of New York City’s finest- for whatever reason strikes his or her fancy- decided I’d violated the Penal Law. Can you imagine not being a lawyer and getting dragged into this shit?” (15). That makes me wonder how you navigate the channels of being good at what you do and being good? How do you use the law to your advantage, to your clients advantage, to your loved ones advantage or is that always an abuse of power? At what point do you put forth a zealous effort on behalf of your client using all the tools available to you be they connections, sexuality, wit, etc…? In the case of our seductive prosecutor, it is clear that the excessive charges are the point at which a line was crossed, but how did she get there meaning how did she become the type of lawyer that behaves in that manner? How did our AUSA reach the point of enjoying torture? To me it isn’t satisfactory to say that the Prosecutor’s side, the state, the government, automatically that is where the “bad” people go and become “bad” lawyers and those committed to justice venture over to Robinson’s camp. I am sure that is a personal matter but I’m curious what are the triggers, the steps down the path of beating an intruder’s brain into the wall?

-- ElviraKras - 08 Feb 2012