In this episode, Professor Smith discusses what it means to be a criminal defense lawyer in the context of an unspeakably grisly first-degree murder case in which his client, Aubrey Arthur Livingston, was accused of participating in the killing of five people, including two small children.
Professor Smith tried the case twice, and fought an appeal all the way to the Florida Supreme Court, standing as the only barrier between his client and electrocution.
“A system of justice should not be judged by how it treats the rich and powerful,” Professor Smith said, “but how it treats the damned and the despised.”
Listen on the podcast site here, through the Apple platform here, or other platforms here.
A trailblazing trial lawyer and civil rights pioneer, Professor Smith is the founding director of the FIU Trial Advocacy Program. He teaches Trial Advocacy and Advanced Trial Advocacy.
Reach him at 305-348-8095, htsmith@fiu.edu, and law.fiu.edu/trialad.