Sep 21, 2026 · 26 min · 16 segments
Deborah Roberts sits down with ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire to discuss his advice for young people on how to avoid becoming a statistic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
Deborah RobertsHost
Well, you know what's so fascinating is that you bring a perspective, uh, particularly from the, the defense world.
And we cover so many stories on 2020, um, where, you know, people are accused of horrific things, right? And, you know, one of the stories we've been tracking is the Rex Heuermann case, the, you know, Gogo Beach murder case.
You know, we've heard about Luigi Mangione, the, the, the guy accused in, um, the shooting of a healthcare, um, executive.
Of course, Diddy, you know, accused of, of doing some pretty horrific things, not murder, but horrific things.
And one of the things I think you bring to the set when you're talking is about the defense, because oftentimes our audience does not understand how these lawyers are defending people who, you know, are accused of Pretty terrible stuff.
And you, and, and, and what, what are you most trying to get across when you are talking with us and, and sort of, you know, playing that role of what the defense lawyers may be thinking?
So one, I often tell my wife, I don't know if I'm playing the role as a defense attorney or if I'm playing the role of a human being-
I am what, what some defense attorneys would jokingly call a, a gold star defense attorney because I've never prosecuted before.
So oftentimes, uh, a lot of people on TV who are defense attorneys are former prosecutors, and then they become defense attorneys, and I think that, that is a, a, a good thing in the sense of they can give you both sides.
They can say, "Yes, when I used to put someone in the grand jury, I can do this, and now as a defense attorney..." But the one thing I think that's unique about being a public defender is I never had an opportunity to, um, shift through what cases I could or couldn't take or did or didn't wanna take.
So if there was a defense that needed to be found, as a public defender, you have to do the mental gymnastics to find a defense no matter what.
Well, you know what's so fascinating is that you bring a perspective, uh, particularly from the, the defense world.
And we cover so many stories on 2020, um, where, you know, people are accused of horrific things, right? And, you know, one of the stories we've been tracking is the Rex Heuermann case, the, you know, Gogo Beach murder case.
You know, we've heard about Luigi Mangione, the, the, the guy accused in, um, the shooting of a healthcare, um, executive.
Of course, Diddy, you know, accused of, of doing some pretty horrific things, not murder, but horrific things.
And one of the things I think you bring to the set when you're talking is about the defense, because oftentimes our audience does not understand how these lawyers are defending people who, you know, are accused of Pretty terrible stuff.
And you, and, and, and what, what are you most trying to get across when you are talking with us and, and sort of, you know, playing that role of what the defense lawyers may be thinking?
So one, I often tell my wife, I don't know if I'm playing the role as a defense attorney or if I'm playing the role of a human being-
I am what, what some defense attorneys would jokingly call a, a gold star defense attorney because I've never prosecuted before.
So oftentimes, uh, a lot of people on TV who are defense attorneys are former prosecutors, and then they become defense attorneys, and I think that, that is a, a, a good thing in the sense of they can give you both sides.
They can say, "Yes, when I used to put someone in the grand jury, I can do this, and now as a defense attorney..." But the one thing I think that's unique about being a public defender is I never had an opportunity to, um, shift through what cases I could or couldn't take or did or didn't wanna take.
So if there was a defense that needed to be found, as a public defender, you have to do the mental gymnastics to find a defense no matter what.
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