I write this from a prison cell that confines me for a crime I didn't commit. I don't know who framed me, or why. I can't blame the jury for convicting me. The evidence was weighted, and the balance of innocence and guilt on the scales of justice didn't favour any other outcome. I realised that innocent people in prison aren't necessarily there because the US legal system is broken. They're sometimes there because the evidence used against them was planted, or collected by improper means. I also realised something else I never cared to notice during my years as a lawyer as both a prosecutor and a public defender. Even guilty people generally trust the judiciary and expect fairness in treatment and sentencing. It is there first mistake.
As a public defender, juggling more cases than I could handle, I was under pressure to push as many cases through the system as possible. It's no different for any other public defender in every county throughout the United States. Underpaid and overworked. They called me 'Plea Deal Perry.' Almost all of my clients accepted plea deals because they trusted me and trusted the system. If every defendant in America chose to go to trial, I'm sure the conviction rate would decrease, and I guarantee state prosecutors would offer better plea deals to defendants or face clogging the system.
Honestly, I entered criminal law with the intention of being the best lawyer the world had seen. Then reality got in the way. I regret my role. I now dedicate my time to work with the investigators of Justice For All to win relief for the men and women within the walls of the Washington State prison system who were unjustly convicted or sentenced.