Conservative Scold Ken Starr Got a Billionaire Pedophile Off

[DonViejo]

M.L. Nestel

Many believe Jeffrey Epstein could have been jailed for life for violating scores of underage girls, but Ken Starr and the rest of his legal team got him a deal.

It was supposed to be a probe into the first family’s finances. But when independent counsel Judge Ken Starr mounted an investigation into the Clintons’ real-estate deals, the “Whitewater” probe took a peep-show turn. Starr and his team began to obsess over every lurid detail of Bill Clinton’s philandering, issuing a 473-page report that was a catalog of misuse of funds but mostly torrid sexcapades in the White House and the president accused of committing perjury to cover it up.

The Starr Report came out in 1998. And all of this would be history, if it weren’t for the fact that Starr, the legendary moral ninny now serving as the chancellor at Baylor University, was handpicked nearly a decade later to negotiate a sweetheart plea deal with state and federal prosecutors for billionaire pederast and Clinton crony Jeffrey Epstein.
On Wednesday, some of Epstein’s lawyers were back in court, arguing that the negotiations over that deal must remain secret.

“I had given Epstein a list of lawyers I worked with in the past that had been exceptionally able and Jeffrey picked from the list,” Alan Dershowitz, the world-famous criminal attorney and Harvard professor, told The Daily Beast. He also worked on Epstein’s behalf. “Starr had experience in investigating sex

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/30/conservative-scold-ken-starr-got-a-billionaire-pedophile-off.html

[Nye Bevan]

1. While I am no fan of Kenneth Starr,

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 04:16 PM - Edit history (1)

I do not judge defense attorneys based upon the clients they represent.

[DonViejo]

5. I agree and, admittedly,...

had some qualms about posting this news.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. If Starr was the only attorney available he would have had a moral obligation to take the case.

That being said, attorney's don't accept every case presented to them for a host of reasons.

[whathehell]

11. "attorneys don't accept every case presented to them for a host of reasons"

Yeah, including moral.

Apparently, this wasn't a problem for any involved.

Can I throw up again?...I think I will.

[treestar]

23. Somebody has to do it

are you arguing some charges are so heinous the right to counsel should be defeated by counsel refusing to defend?

Some people aren't guilty of what they are charged with, even if the charge itself is heinous.

[whathehell]

25. Yeah, but talk to me when that "somebody" doesn't get a million plus FOR doing it.

then I might be a little more amenable to the "principle" of it all.

My sister is a superior court judge, so you don't want to go there with me.

[treestar]

69. Why do you object to the fee now?

You're changing the subject. That's up to the market, most lawyers are not going to get a million plus except for a very very huge personal injury case.

[Man from Pickens]

30. hosts of reasons tend to be led by money

I wonder how many billionaires' legal cases get turned down for "moral" reasons - bet it's as rare as a cop getting convicted for murder

[kwassa]

43. I judge defense attorneys based on the clients they represent.

Starr is making big money off Epstein, I am sure.

Attorneys are hired guns, that's all. Most have little personal morality, but are simply for sale to the highest bidder.

Of course, the pretense of moral authority is very important to their image, but it is only image used to hopefully sway a jury.

[Nye Bevan]

45. So you're one of the "Hillary sucks because she represented an alleged rapist" folks? (nt)

[kwassa]

47. no, I don't know where on earth you came up with that!

but I don't think Hillary is a saint, either. None of them are.

[dhill926]

48. it's the new way of arguing on DU...

makes this place way less enjoyable...

[Nye Bevan]

49. Well.... you did say that you judge attorneys based upon their clients (nt)

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

52. Was she assigned that case, or did she choose it? nt

[msanthrope]

58. Appointed. nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

60. Then I'd be less disgusted with her

than if she'd taken his case simply for big bucks. (I actually would applaud her if she took cases that didn't have big paydays, but simply because she really did feel the defendants were completely innocent.)

[msanthrope]

61. The guy was indigent...wanted a female attorney.....

Newsweek had a pretty balanced story on it....

http://familyrights.us/news/archive/2008/feb/lawyer_clinton_for_defense.htm

[Fred Sanders]

55. What about public defender or legal aid paid defence attorneys who can not choose their clients?

[kwassa]

64. That is a different case, they have different motivations.

Out of idealism, without the big paycheck.

[rhett o rick]

62. So you don't support our justice system. Bad people don't deserve good

representation? You are saying that defense lawyers shouldn't defend those that you think are bad or guilty.

[hifiguy]

63. Agreed

Everyone is entitled to counsel. If you have the money to pay a private attorney you are entitled to the counsel of your choice.

Most attorneys will accept whatever cases come in the door and, according to the legal ethics I learned, and you should have a pretty good reason for declining representation - conflicts of interest with other past or present clients being the most common reason for so doing.

Lawyers are a bit like cabs - you takes them what can pay the fare.

[treestar]

70. So who is it exactly, that does not deserve the right to counsel?

Any other Bill of Rights provisions you'd deny to an accused, so long as you didn't like them or the charge was heinous enough?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

51. I do.

Unless they're public defenders who have no choice in their clients.

If you get to select your clients, then yeah, you certainly can be judged on who you choose to take as clients.

[Nye Bevan]

53. So you must despise (for example) attorneys who specialize in DUI cases (nt)

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

57. Despise? Nope.

I don't 'hate' or 'despise' or anything that strong anyone. I'm not a person who can sustain strong emotion of any type. Too many years of stress hormones flooding my system.

But I certainly don't think of them as saints.

[whathehell]

2. Isn't THAT disgusting?!

and to think how that freaking phony railed on about Clinton!

As for Dershowitz, how nice to hear how "Jeffrey picked from the list".

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. His legal team was incredible./NT

[whathehell]

8. Many things are possible, indeed "incredible"

when one is able to eliminate all traces of human decency.

[hughee99]

7. It sounds like Ken Starr just helped someone cut a plea deal that

will keep Bill Clinton's name from coming up over and over during the campaign along with the word "pedophile". Starr just did a big favor for Hillary's campaign.

[whathehell]

9. Well, I guess that makes it A-okay, then!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. There is no evidence Clinton knew of Epstein's perfidious proclivities...

But that won't stop a small group of determined people from flogging this angle.

[whathehell]

14. No "evidence"?

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 12:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Maybe not, but do you really believe that Epstein's "friends" didn't know?.

Flogging my ass, if he's a pedophile or willingly glad hands pedophiles,

he deserves to be flogged, and those sickened by pedophilia, especially

that "bought" by the rich and powerful, are a large, rather than 'small' group.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Bill Clinton would have to be insane or an imbecile to knowingly affiliate with a pedophile.

There is no evidence he is either.

[whathehell]

21. Uh, many would have said that about his affair with Monica..

so no, I don't think so.

Never underestimate the chances that a rich, powerful man who thinks with his dick

will take. These men do stupid things all the time, either because they

enjoy the risk, like adrenaline junkies, or think they're too powerful to be

caught.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. I don't countenance marital infidelity and certainly don't countenance sex with kids.

But they are on separate moral planes and I don't believe it's fair to suggest because one is guilty of the former he or she could ever be guilty of the latter.

On my moral opprobrium scale pedophiles are below murderers.

[whathehell]

33. I agree completely

and I wouldn't have "countenanced" it with Bill Clinton, either, until I

read this "latest".

Look, I'm not even saying Bill himself is a pedophile, but I can NOT believe

that, with his access, he didn't know about Epstein, and hanging out

with scum like that, is, in my book, almost as despicable.

[GeorgeGist]

66. Monica escape your notice.

When it comes to sex, Clinton is a fool.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

68. See #31

[wyldwolf]

32. this how 'progressive' dogma starts

A few months from now someone will boldly proclaim Starr cut a deal to save Clinton and the evidence will be multiple repetitions of this on the internet.

[hughee99]

24. So your issue is that Ken Starr did what lawyers are supposed to do? n/t

[whathehell]

27. No, my issue is different.

It's that a billionaire client washes the conscience of too many.

Sorry, but I don't think "justice" should be bought. If he was a poor

schmuck off the street he'd get no better than Legal Aid.

[hughee99]

37. Ah, so it sounds like your issue is that people without money

don't get good legal representation. You're right. Perhaps we can level the playing field by making sure everyone gets poor representation regardless of how much money they have.

[whathehell]

39. Yes, especially child rapists.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

54. Or just make it completely random.

Don't let anyone bring in chosen attourneys. Assign all defense lawyers randomly from a pool of all available.

Then it just depends upon the quality lawyers willing to join the overall pool of defense lawyers.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Interesting

How all the people at the top connect.

[Bonobo]

12. Ken Starr is pretty old...

I wonder how he got a pedophile off so easy.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. You're bad.

[Bonobo]

15. I know... But somebody had to.

It was just hanging there waiting to be knocked outta the park.

[whathehell]

18. Really?

Any jokes about priests molesting boys or other funny stuff like that?

[zappaman]

65. Here's one...

?w=507

[whathehell]

16. All things considered, I expected someone would "make light" of this

the situation...Was it "funny" when it was priests doing it to little boys?

Nah -- I didn't think so, but cheers to you and bonobo.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. I said Mr. or Ms. Bonobo was "bad" for making that post.

I even suggested he or she needed a spanking.

[whathehell]

22. Yeah, cute.

Instead of being spanked, you might have asked him/ her how

he/she would have enjoyed being raped when he/she was a kid?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. I don't think Bonobo was countenancing aberrant activity.

He should speak for himself though.

[Bonobo]

29. It's true, I wasn't. I was umm, making a joke. nt

[whathehell]

34. and it, umm, wasn't funny.

Sorry. My take.

[Bonobo]

36. I bet you some people would laugh.

That's good enough for me.

Actually, it's more than good enough. Even one laugh is fine.

[zappaman]

50. I laughed, so thanks. n/t

[msanthrope]

59. I laughed....

[whathehell]

38. I think I can help you with that gender question..

Mr. Bonobo is a member of DU's Men's right group and he thinks that women's "sexual

attractiveness" gives them a unique "power" that isn't properly appreciated as such,

as per his post of Dec. 26, 2014.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. I'm not in the "misandry is a huge problem" camp

That being said it was a double entendre, nothing more, and nothing less...Just dark humor.

[whathehell]

41. Well, that's nice for you, but I don't think you can speak

for Bonobo, at least you SAID you wouldn't speak for him,

when it comes to that "misandry is a huge problem" thing.

You see, when it comes to 'dark', some might even say "sick" humor, I think it should

start from a "me and mine" position.

Discover the humor when imagining yourself or YOUR children, perhaps,

in the situation you find funny with others. It tends to change one's perspective a

bit.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. I actually was approached by a pedophile in a DeLand, Florida restroom

I was a very pretty boy with long hair parted down the middle, must have been fourteen or so. I ran out of there.

[whathehell]

46. I believe it..

My sister was, as well...She was older than me, and I still remember my parents

going to the police station to report it.

She's a superior court judge now. Mr. Epstein wouldn't have wanted to appear before

her.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. no words

&width=380

[AtomicKitten]

20. Dershowitz is in it up to his neck.

[whathehell]

35. Well, he does appear to be on a close, first-name basis with "Jeffrey".

[kwassa]

44. He is a scumbag, too.

[Agnosticsherbet]

56. According to the article, "Alan Dershowitz also worked on Epstein's behalf."

[Donald Ian Rankin]

67. "Lawyer represented criminal" is not a scandal.

The idea that defence lawyers should only represent "nice" criminals is a weird one - representing horrible people who have done horrible things is most of what defence lawyers are for; occasionally they will get an innocent client, but not often, and it's not their place to judge..

If there were evidence that Starr broke the law on Epstein's behalf, *that* would be a scandal.

[kelliekat44]

71. No, he really got Dershowitz and Clinton a deal. nt