As Donald Trump’s indictments pile up we hear his defense repeated again and again – never a refutation of the facts, just a claim that he is being victimized by a corrupt, overzealous government, a “weaponized” FBI and Department of Justice, the all-powerful Federal Government trampling on the rights of a lone businessman, a vendetta driven by a bogus, law enforcement “witch hunt”.
I am surprised to learn that this defense did not originate with Trump. Lawyers for an equally celebrated criminal defendant some years ago also argued that their client was the victim of corrupt law enforcement agencies, that the Department of Treasury had been weaponized as part of a personal vendetta against an upright citizen who had broken no laws. One of his attorneys, Albert Fink1, in his closing argument told the jury that they were a bulwalk against a corrupt, over-reaching government that was twisting the laws so as to criminalize lawful behavior. “You,” he told the jury, “are the last barrier between an innocent man and the encroachment and perversion of the government and the law”.
The jury was unconvinced. They found Al Capone guilty on all counts and sent him to vacation over the next ten years on an island in beautiful San Francisco Bay.
It’s a bit unnerving to hear a former president of the United States invoke the Al Capone defense with almost the entire Republican Party, heretofore champions of “law and order” and “getting tough on crime” giving it their full support.
By the way, Capone’s former Alcatraz cell is now a tourist attraction and is presently unoccupied.
Sincerely,
Martin Blinder, M.D.
Past Clinical Prof. of Psychiatry, UCSF
and Adj. Prof. of Law, Hastings College of Law