Mike Sanft: Representing the Accused, Tupac Shakur's Killer, Part 1

I think you know sometimes we think of trials as like a stage right in which we all you know if you want to take it from Shakespeare we all play a part on this world stage I've I've had a hard time sort of being someone that I'm not.

And I think very young, I just learned to be OK with who I was.

And so as a result, just growing up, I didn't have to worry so much about being inauthentic with people because it just, that's who I was.

Now here's the thing.

Thank goodness I wasn't an asshole.

Right.

Cause if I was a authentically an asshole, I just, you know what I'm saying? And there are people who have a different type of personality.

I just was blessed with a very congenial and sort of, um, you know, I don't know what words, easygoing sort of like, Hey, let's all just be good.

Yeah.

You know? Um,

So was Pete your first...

I mean, that's when you start doing criminal defense work.

Yes.

Okay.

Was there ever a time in your career where it hits you, maybe early on, oh my God, the weight of this person's liberty and the rest of their life is really sitting on my shoulders?

Yeah.

There have been times, obviously, when you believe you have someone who's actually innocent of the crime.

Now, here's the thing.

Most times...

I don't believe that way.

I believe that someone's been charged with a crime, and it's up to me as the defense attorney to do what I would like to call quality control, right, which is where if the state and or metro and or whoever didn't do their jobs, then the outcome should be, hey, from the jury, hey, guys, you didn't do your job, so not guilty.

Right.

And so as a result of that, it's sort of a hyper-technical way of looking at trials in that I'm not that worried about whether or not the individual that's next to me is going to go to prison.

It's whether or not that individual is correctly charged with a crime and whether or not the state of Nevada has done everything they're supposed to do that we would expect as members of our community.

And so your job, you view it more as making sure everybody else does their job correctly.

I think you know sometimes we think of trials as like a stage right in which we all you know if you want to take it from Shakespeare we all play a part on this world stage I've I've had a hard time sort of being someone that I'm not.

And I think very young, I just learned to be OK with who I was.

And so as a result, just growing up, I didn't have to worry so much about being inauthentic with people because it just, that's who I was.

Now here's the thing.

Thank goodness I wasn't an asshole.

Right.

Cause if I was a authentically an asshole, I just, you know what I'm saying? And there are people who have a different type of personality.

I just was blessed with a very congenial and sort of, um, you know, I don't know what words, easygoing sort of like, Hey, let's all just be good.

Yeah.

You know? Um,

So was Pete your first...

I mean, that's when you start doing criminal defense work.

Yes.

Okay.

Was there ever a time in your career where it hits you, maybe early on, oh my God, the weight of this person's liberty and the rest of their life is really sitting on my shoulders?

Yeah.

There have been times, obviously, when you believe you have someone who's actually innocent of the crime.

Now, here's the thing.

Most times...

I don't believe that way.

I believe that someone's been charged with a crime, and it's up to me as the defense attorney to do what I would like to call quality control, right, which is where if the state and or metro and or whoever didn't do their jobs, then the outcome should be, hey, from the jury, hey, guys, you didn't do your job, so not guilty.

Right.

And so as a result of that, it's sort of a hyper-technical way of looking at trials in that I'm not that worried about whether or not the individual that's next to me is going to go to prison.

It's whether or not that individual is correctly charged with a crime and whether or not the state of Nevada has done everything they're supposed to do that we would expect as members of our community.

And so your job, you view it more as making sure everybody else does their job correctly.