Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

A Case of Taste

By: dmc-admin//August 11, 2008//

A Case of Taste

By: dmc-admin//August 11, 2008//

Listen to this article

ImageWhen taking on any case, an attorney often has to put aside personal feelings.

But when it comes to sexual assault, rape or child molestation cases, some female criminal defense lawyers have found them too tawdry to defend.

“There are a lot of women [attorneys] who won’t do rape cases and it’s tough to check the ‘ick’ factor at the door,” said attorney Cynthia W. Roseberry, who briefly touched on the topic during a presentation at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Conference in Milwaukee.

Roseberry is currently a professor at the DePaul University College of Law, but during her 10 years in private practice, she handled several sexual assault cases.

Regardless of her personal reservations about defending a client accused of rape, Roseberry said her professional responsibility prevailed.

That is not always the case, as some experienced female attorneys in Wisconsin noted that they struggled with whether or not to defend sexual assault cases early in their career.

Young Love

Attorney Deja S. Vishny said that there is a lot of truth to the notion that female attorneys, especially younger ones, shy away from sexual assault cases.

Vishny has been with the Wisconsin State Public Defenders Office (SPD) since she graduated from law school in 1980 and said she was initially reluctant to take on sexual assault cases.

“I think for me, it was a concern that it’s too personal, and you are too vulnerable,” said Vishny. “You could potentially be a victim of this crime.”

She has since defended numerous defendants in sexual assault cases and treats them like “any other case,” but added that occasionally clients cross the line.

After a client went to prison in a date rape case, Vishny said he wrote threatening letters to her.

“It was stuff like ‘I want you, you want me and I’ll have you whether you agree or not,’ ” said Vishny. “I think it’s a common experience for young female attorneys to have clients write them love letters from prison.”

As an attorney and a mother, Kathleen B. Stilling of Buting & Williams, S.C., in Brookfield, said she understands the emotional conflict in representing a client charged with molestation.

But she also said it’s not hard to represent an innocent person, whether you are a female attorney or not.

“I’m not holding my nose and taking theses cases,” said Stilling. “I do them because I like my clients and have empathy for them, and any woman [attorney] I’ve talked to would say the same thing.”

A Case is a Case

Attorney Robin E. Dorman suggested that reluctance by female criminal defense attorneys to take on sexual assault cases may be more fiction than fact.

As a public defender for the last 29 years, Dorman said she does not think the issue is gender specific and if anything, more of a professional decision, rather than a personal one.

“It may not be so much the nature of the charges, but the degree of difficulty those cases present,” said Dorman. “They can be a bear.”

Vishny said that inexperienced public defenders are typically limited to defending fourth-degree misdemeanor sexual assault cases because most felony cases are extremely complex.

“There is no litmus test for joining the public defender’s office,” said Vishny. “We don’t force attorneys to take cases they are uncomfortable with, because they probably wouldn’t be able to do a good job.”

The same holds true for private practitioners. Attorney Yolanda I. Lehner of Lehner Law Office in Madison, said she can recall turning down only one sexual assault case, largely because she thought the evidence against the accused was overwhelming.

At the same time, Lehner also admitted that the case was “too creepy” to defend as well.

Ultimately, it comes down to a balance between professional and personal convictions, said Roseberry.

“I have to check in on my belief in everybody having a right to a fair trial,” said Roseberry. “Even the person who did it deserves a right to a fair trial and they’re not guilty until the jury says so. So that’s what I hang on.”

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests