It’s my fault. It was my first criminal trial and I was ineffective.
It’s my more experienced co-counsel’s fault. I brought him in to the case precisely to prevent what happened from happening.
It’s the prosecutors’ fault. They cared more about winning than justice, and committed prosecutorial misconduct at trial in their zeal to convict an innocent man.
It’s the judge’s fault. He denied our motion to dismiss on clearly erroneous grounds, then followed up by making numerous clearly erroneous evidentiary rulings at trial.
It’s the jury’s fault. There’s no way in the world a rational juror could have honestly believed beyond a reasonable doubt that my client did not reasonably fear for his life when two angry men brandishing guns invaded his backyard. They would have either did what my client did and/or shit themselves.
It’s my client’s fault. He was born with the wrong color skin and lived in the wrong neighborhood and had the courage to defend himself and his friends and family.