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Selective Empathy

By Steve Hall

That's the title of Linda Greenhouse's latest post at the New York Times Opinionator blog.  LINK It's a must-read. Several excerpts: In overturning a death sentence this week of a Korean War veteran whose lawyer failed to inform the jury about the man?s combat-related traumatic stress disorder, the Supreme Court drew cheers from veterans? groups and death-penalty opponents. But it also raised a question: Is selective empathy better than no empathy at all? And: ?Ineffective assistance of counsel? is an exceptionally difficult claim on which to succeed. The Supreme Court has found ineffective assistance only a handful of times since it raised the bar in a 1984 case, Strickland v. Washington. That decision requires defendants to prove two elements: that the lawyer?s performance ?fell below an objective standard of reasonableness? and that there was a ?reasonable probability? that the outcome would have been different if not for the bad lawyering...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).