The billboard shows a smiling lawyer with a polka dot bow-tie in front of a courthouse with an American flag flying in the background. Bold print proclaims, “Just Because You Did It Doesn’t Mean You’re Guilty”.
Really?
When I look at the message on attorney Larry L. Archie’s Greensboro, North Carolina, billboard, I have to wonder what was in the good lawyer’s mind. Is he making some deep philosophical point that I’m missing? Or does he mean exactly what his words seem to say?
The message of the billboard seems to be that whether or not you have committed a crime doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that a good lawyer (like Mr. Archie) can get you off. So, even if you did it, don’t worry about it. Let’s get together and work on making sure you’re never held accountable for what you did.
Can this really be what Larry Archie meant to communicate? I understand that the purpose of the ad is to drum up business, and Mr. Archie is a criminal defense attorney. And I understand that everyone deserves their day in court, with competent legal representation, whether they actually committed a crime or not.
But have we as a society really come to the place where we are ok with attorneys advertising to criminals that committing crimes isn’t a problem if you have a good lawyer to get you off?
Woe to men … who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!
Isaiah 5:22-23 (NKJV)
I’m guessing that nobody pointed out to Larry Archie the moral and ethical ramifications of his message before it was put up on a billboard for all the world to see. Of course, there’s the possibility that he wouldn’t be concerned about such things anyway, but I won’t make that assumption.
Instead, I hope that now that the billboard is up, Mr. Archie will see his message with different eyes, and that billboard won’t stay up. If it does, that will say a lot about Larry L. Archie as a person – and about us as a society.
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One commenter suggested the billboard may not be as slimy as it appears – “Legally, someone could have done some misdeed but not be criminally liable. The best example is someone legally insane committing a homicide. There are other legal defenses such as duress that could be applicable.” The blog author doubted this is what the lawyer’s billboard was trying to convey.