Murder, sex cases in Kansas City call for thick skin, say defense
There are two sides to every story, even for a person accused of a crime. It doesn’t matter if the accused is on trial for raping a woman or murdering his stepson.
“I’m the only person that can help them at this moment in their life,” said Thomas Jacquinot, Kansas City public defender. “You have to look at it from their perspective.”
Jacquinot said he’d done this for 20 years, and being perceived as the “bad guy” or defending the “bad guy” was just part of the job. It doesn’t bother him. The attorney defended Lorenzo Gilyard, 56, a serial killer who was convicted last month of strangling and sexually assaulting six women.
The majority of defense attorneys in Kansas City deal with robbery, murder and sex offenders more than terrorists but face many of the same attitudes and problems the attorneys around the nation discuss.
When criminal defense attorney John Picerno is introduced at parties and guests learn what he does, some people ask “How can you do this?” He tells them everyone has a right to an attorney and a trial.
“I’ve done a dozen murder trials and several assaults and robberies, Picerno said.
He represented a 14-year-old, tried as an adult in 1994, which was a tough case, the former public defender said. The 14-year-old and the victim got into a fight over CDs, and the victim brought a gun to the 14-year-old’s grandmother’s house. Picerno’s client then got a gun and defended himself.
“I figured that it wasn’t a legitimate or rational type of anger, that it was just an emotional response to the facts of the case because they were personally involved somehow,” Weber said.
Picerno said it was ironic because he’d gained some clients he had cross-examined during trial.
“I remember one guy that got so mad at me during cross- examination that he just about came out of the chair. After the trial, he called me to represent a family member,” Picerno said.
Jacquinot said he hadn’t had much attitude or problems from the public. He hasn’t encountered being viewed as a “monster.”
Picerno said he regarded defending an innocent person as more difficult. It’s easier for him to defend a guilty person.
“You don’t lose any sleep. You’ve done everything you can to defend them. It’s more difficult to defend the innocent ones because there’s a chance they could go to jail,” he said.
Jacquinot agreed the stress was higher when defending someone innocent.
“When you anticipate a guilty verdict, you focus on the sentencing,” he said. “That’s the most stressful.”
In the Gilyard case the trial centered on DNA evidence. Gilyard’s DNA was found on the six women who were murdered from March 1986 to December of 1987. He received a life sentence without a chance of parole.
Jacquinot said he expected it would be difficult because of the DNA evidence and because after 20 years many of the witnesses had gone missing or were dead.
Another difficult client to defend is a sex offender, Picerno said.
“(Sex offenders) are tough cases because you know they are mentally ill. It’s different from the others,” Picerno said.
But the bottom line remains the same, Picerno said. Someone has to speak up for the accused, and he says it’s his job.