Wesley Snipes Quotes

I got the chance to argue my first case in Supreme Court, a criminal case arising in Alabama that involved the right of a defendant to counsel at a critical stage in a capital case before a trial.

Everybody has a right to be defended, and every lawyer has a duty to defend people accused. And my office is to defend him, to discuss the accusation point by point, as I think this is a normal step in a democracy.

You can be arrested and not charged. You can be arrested and have no right to counsel.

I was covering the Supreme Court when it decided Gideon v. Wainright, and the case has always had special meaning for me.

You have got to make sure there's due process for somebody that's accused of a crime. You've got make sure they're safe.

[The defendant] has an absolute, unqualified right to compel the State to investigate its own case, find its own witnesses, prove its own facts, and convince the jury through its own resources. Throughout the process, the defendant has a fundamental right to remain silent, in effect challenging the State at every point to “Prove it!”

Due process does not require that every conceivable step be taken, at whatever cost, to eliminate the possibility of convicting an innocent person. To conclude otherwise would all but paralyze our system for enforcement of the criminal law.

We have a system of jurisprudence. You are innocent until proven guilty. You have a right to counsel. And you have a right to hospitalization if you are ill. That is our system. And it's what makes this country special and what makes this country great.

I went to public school on Long Island, and it seemed every year we were being taught that you had a right to a fair trial and a right to confront your accuser.

In the real world, some defense lawyers never have an innocent client in their whole career.

The core civil liberty that underpins our American criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence. Every person enjoys this presumption long before the commencement of any investigation or official proceeding.

As you get older, the more you know, so the more nervous you become. The risks are much bigger.

Is it guilty in here or is it just me?

Indictments of any kind are serious. That being said, let's not forget that an indictment is not a conviction. We still have due process in this country.

We are not supposed to go out and kill all those we suspect to have committed a crime.

Believing a person deserves a defence is not the same as doing anything in your power to get him off scot-free.

It is indeed an odd business that it has taken this Court nearly two centuries to 'discover' a constitutional mandate to have counsel at a preliminary hearing.

The United States government can indict you on something, and now you've got to prove your innocence. And that's not the Constitution of the United States.

I believe I am entitled like any other person to have the presumption of innocence.

I always received much more satisfaction as a defense attorney in obtaining an acquittal for a client than I ever have as a D.A. in obtaining a conviction. All my interests and sympathies tend to be on the side of the individual as opposed to the state.

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.

Dangers bring fears, and fears more dangers bring.

When I was a prosecutor in Kansas City, my job was to fight for justice and safety for all citizens in my community. Equal access to justice under the law is an American value embedded in the fabric of our legal and political system - the idea that anybody, powerful or not, can have their day in court.

Every American deserves their day in court. Every American is innocent until proven guilty. These are core values enshrined in our founding document - the United States Constitution.

So for you people who are filled with fear that I might someday be released: breathe easy, I don't see it happening.