We remember hearing for the first time about Judy Clarke shortly after she became Jared Loughner’s lawyer in early 2011.
We learned, at the time that she had also represented Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and Susan Smith, convicted in 1995 of murdering her two children.
Who is this woman, we wondered. What’s behind her drive to represent the worst of the worst, to handle the toughest cases involving the most unspeakable tragedies? At the time, we called her (but didn’t hear back) and scoured the internet for information, but turned up very little. For a woman who handles extremely high-profile clients, Ms. Clarke seems to keep her profile decidedly low.
But she spoke out last week at a legal conference in Los Angeles, and addressed some of our long-simmering curiosities.
According to the AP:
We’ve been slightly surprised to not see Ms. Clarke connected with the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Ms. Clarke didn’t address whether she might be added to the case at some point, according to the AP.
We learned, at the time that she had also represented Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and Susan Smith, convicted in 1995 of murdering her two children.
Who is this woman, we wondered. What’s behind her drive to represent the worst of the worst, to handle the toughest cases involving the most unspeakable tragedies? At the time, we called her (but didn’t hear back) and scoured the internet for information, but turned up very little. For a woman who handles extremely high-profile clients, Ms. Clarke seems to keep her profile decidedly low.
But she spoke out last week at a legal conference in Los Angeles, and addressed some of our long-simmering curiosities.
According to the AP:
Clarke was reticent throughout her keynote speech and declined to take questions from the audience. Instead, she talked about how she had been “sucked into the black hole, the vortex” of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Smith, who drowned her two children.
“I got a dose of understanding human behavior and I learned what the death penalty does to us,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a secret that I oppose the death penalty. “
Clarke also discussed the ways in which death-penalty cases differ from other criminal defendants:“I got a dose of understanding human behavior and I learned what the death penalty does to us,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a secret that I oppose the death penalty. “
“The first clear way death cases are different is the clients,” she said. “Most have suffered from serious severe trauma, unbelievable trauma. We know that from brain research. Many suffer from severe cognitive development issues that affect the core of their being.”
Her biggest job is often to try to convince them to plead guilty. And that requires her to get her clients to seek some sort of redemption, some purpose, at least in their own minds. “They’re looking into the lens of life in prison in a box,” she told the AP. “Our job is to provide them with a reason to live.”
We’ve been slightly surprised to not see Ms. Clarke connected with the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Ms. Clarke didn’t address whether she might be added to the case at some point, according to the AP.