COURTS: Why top-notch defense lawyers earn the big bucks

A friend was called to jury duty in West Chester this week and was seated on a criminal case involving a man accused of writing a large number, a very large number indeed, of prescriptions for narcotic painkillers. My friend takes his civic duty seriously and was determined to be impartial, so he listened carefully to the opening arguments.
After the prosecutor spoke, my friend was convinced the guy was guilty.
Then the defense attorney got up, and he spoke without notes, conjuring up folksy imagery about his grandmother's pancakes and painting his client as a warm-hearted soul who just had his clients' best interests at heart. Sure, he conducts business a little differently -- the cash payments, the lack of an office staff -- but look how loyal his patients are! (The pancakes, it seems, were a metaphor for the fact that there are two sides to every story. You probably shouldn't analyze that one too closely.)
Then the first witness was called. He made reference to a previous arrest of the defendant, and the proceedings came screeching to a halt as the judge declared a mistrial.
My friend came home and promptly started doing research on the Internet. He rarely curses, but he let a few choice words fly when he came across the dozens of articles about this guy's years-long involvement with the law and realized how he had almost been swayed by the defense lawyer's smooth talk. He even recognized a photo of a man who had been sitting at the prosecutor's table -- a federal DEA agent.
A reporter friend of mine who wrote many of the stories about this guy said one of the highlights was when she discovered a defamation suit he filed against some of his med-school professors who dared to suggest that perhaps medicine wasn't the best career choice for him. (He lost the lawsuit.)