Indigent Defense: The Rock Does Not Have to Roll

An Internet meme recently passed around by public defenders shows six panels with different photos and captions. The title “Public Defender” appears in large letters above the six panels. The first panel shows a huge high-capacity monster dump truck with this caption: “What my clients think I do.” The next panel — showing a gang of gun-wielding people who seem to be kidnapping a judge — is accompanied by this caption: “What prosecutors think I do.” In the third panel one sees a wine bottle and a glass of red wine: “What judges think I do.” The fourth panel depicts jail inmates going into a prison, through a revolving gate, and coming right back out: “What voters think I do.” The fifth panel shows a clip from To Kill a Mockingbird with Atticus Finch (actor Gregory Peck) sitting in the courtroom defending the falsely accused Tom Robinson (actor Brock Peters): “What I think I do.” The final panel shows Sisyphus rolling his mythical boulder up the mountain and is accompanied by this caption: “What I really do.”¹