‘Confused’ Lawyer Apologizes for Saying Court Sentenced Arsonist to Death

[snoop1130]

‘Confused’ Lawyer Apologizes for Saying Court Sentenced Arsonist to Death
By Sasiwan Mokkhasen
Staff Reporter

Wattana Chantasilpa, seated at left, talking with reporters Tuesday outside the Ubon Ratchatani Provincial Court.

UBON RATCHATHANI -- A court spokesman has refuted reports the Supreme Court handed down a death sentence to a Redshirt leader convicted of setting fire to a provincial city hall as widely reported earlier this week.

Responding to reports the high court sentenced Pichet Tabudda to death for the 2010 arson, a sentence then commuted to life, courts spokesman Suebpong Sripongkul said there never was a death sentence.

Pichet’s lawyer, Wattana Chantasilpa, who appeared to be the source in all media reports, told Manager Online today that he was confused accidentally gave the wrong information during interviews. He said he was representing too many cases in court that day.

Wattana said he would submit a written apology to the court.

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1450441827

-- Khaosod English 2015-12-18

[seajae]

and thai lawyers are worried about non thai lawyers being able to practice, if this is just a sample of how hopeless they are they have nothing to complain about. The clients may even be able to get a decent representation if ones like this have competition from a good lawyer, client faces arson charges and his lawyer gets him sentenced to death according to him but has it commuted to prison, what a drop kick.

[konying]

and thai lawyers are worried about non thai lawyers being able to practice, if this is just a sample of how hopeless they are they have nothing to complain about. The clients may even be able to get a decent representation if ones like this have competition from a good lawyer, client faces arson charges and his lawyer gets him sentenced to death according to him but has it commuted to prison, what a drop kick.

There is a good reason for convicted person to file an appeal

Reasoning, my previous lawyer was a moron

[Ks45672]

Military courts don't even allow appeals, never mind farang lawyers practicing lol

We are not exactly rocking in the freeworld here recently ...

Click like in the wrong place on Facebook.... You could be looking at several years...

[Baerboxer]

Just a simple honest mistake by another red shirt lawyer.

Not at all deliberate to provoke anger and sympathy.

[scorecard]

Written apology with a box of donuts?

[tbthailand]

b-b-b-b-buuuut Thaksin, ... well now THAT didn't take long...

btw, for those interested, Prachatai interviewed the defendant. Interesting to hear a part of his side...

[berybert]

If someone sets fire to a building and cares not 1 iota if people are inside it or not, then maybe he should have been sentenced to death.

[NongKhaiKid]

He said he was confused because he represented too many cases that day, well with incompetence like this there's a good chance his case load will drop as many may think twice about hiring him.

[never me]

From my experience most lawyers in T'land are brain dead. Its all about the money "ALWAYS"

[EnglishJohn]

b-b-b-b-buuuut Thaksin, ... well now THAT didn't take long...

btw, for those interested, Prachatai interviewed the defendant. Interesting to hear a part of his side...

Who mentioned the goblin ?. Seems like you are still mixing up the real world with your fantasy world where you can dismiss every criticism of red-shirt ethics just because they don't like Thaksin.

I wish I could live in a world as simplistic as you obviously do. I bet your carer wears a sympathetic smile and wipes the froth off your chin while you rant at her.

Just try and face up to the truth for a change. This red-shirt lawyer broke every ethic he was supposed to posses in order to feed a lie intended to agitate the low IQ 'grass roots' red-shirts. And I see it worked on the target audience.

Or do you consider these 'white lies' to be perfectly acceptable ?. Or do you actually think a lawyer mistakenly thinking a death sentence was passed is a convenient 'honest mistake' ?

[EnglishJohn]

Military courts don't even allow appeals, never mind farang lawyers practicing lol

We are not exactly rocking in the freeworld here recently ...

Click like in the wrong place on Facebook.... You could be looking at several years...

But you have to be a raving fanatic or dumb as a rock to click 'like' on the kind of posts which will get you that.

In fact even being in a position to see those posts whether you click like or not speaks volumes.

Did you enjoy reading them ?.

[mca]

He said he was confused because he represented too many cases that day, well with incompetence like this there's a good chance his case load will drop as many may think twice about hiring him.

"I've got some bad news. I'm afraid you've failed in your attempt to get your parking fine overturned and they've handed down the death sentence instead. Er..hang on a minute let me just check the paperwork"

[thelonius]

b-b-b-b-buuuut Thaksin, ... well now THAT didn't take long...

btw, for those interested, Prachatai interviewed the defendant. Interesting to hear a part of his side...

Who mentioned the goblin ?. Seems like you are still mixing up the real world with your fantasy world where you can dismiss every criticism of red-shirt ethics just because they don't like Thaksin.

I wish I could live in a world as simplistic as you obviously do. I bet your carer wears a sympathetic smile and wipes the froth off your chin while you rant at her.

Just try and face up to the truth for a change. This red-shirt lawyer broke every ethic he was supposed to posses in order to feed a lie intended to agitate the low IQ 'grass roots' red-shirts. And I see it worked on the target audience.

Or do you consider these 'white lies' to be perfectly acceptable ?. Or do you actually think a lawyer mistakenly thinking a death sentence was passed is a convenient 'honest mistake' ?

EnglishJohn, do you think you will ever be able to respond to posts using cogent argument, without hurling insults at either the subject matter or the poster (usually both)?

I look forward to that day.

[monkey4u]

Glad he's Not my lawyer

[Lupatria]

Looking at the laws, law enforcement and the variety of by-passes here, one needs to be confused to become a lawyer in the first place.

[LannaGuy]

the cream of Thailand, the hub of lawyers BTW did he forfeit his watch?

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

More likely knew exactly what he was saying and was trying to stir up more trouble. All the Reds know how to do.

[JAG]

Glad he's Not my lawyer

Indeed, he would have had more of a chance if he had hired "English John" to defend him!

[chrisinth]

He said he was confused because he represented too many cases that day, well with incompetence like this there's a good chance his case load will drop as many may think twice about hiring him.

Its actually quite scary and makes me wonder how many other death sentences were handed out on that day to cause the confusion.........................

[mca]

" This is a most heinous crime and we request the death penalty as the only possible answer for this atrocity.... what do you mean M'Lud I'm supposed to be representing the defendant?"

[Ks45672]

Military courts don't even allow appeals, never mind farang lawyers practicing lol

We are not exactly rocking in the freeworld here recently ...

Click like in the wrong place on Facebook.... You could be looking at several years...

But you have to be a raving fanatic or dumb as a rock to click 'like' on the kind of posts which will get you that.

In fact even being in a position to see those posts whether you click like or not speaks volumes.

Did you enjoy reading them ?.

I didn't read the fanatic pages in question, I haven't even seen the picture that got all the "likes" and before you ask, no I haven't searched for them either....

I have other plans to work on and it doesn't involve any political unrest or upsetting the people who are in charge of ANY country...

Generally, you will get in shit if you piss of the world leaders of your own or another country, one way or another...

If I made similar jokes about Chinese or Russian leaders in Facebook I would expect the same results to be honest

[bangrak]

Correct me when I'm wrong:

To be authorised to plead in front of the Supreme Court, a lawyer needs a special accreditation, and such lawyers are found among the best members of the Bar.

When I'd be wrong:

Mr Wattana could be just a basic lawyer among the scores of working for PTP/UDD who could, eventually, be give the benefit of the doubt about his 'mistake', though a dumbass and/or very overworked he would be.

The question then would be why the PTP/UDD would not have picked one of its best lawyers to represent some of its most hardcore followers in a very important, last, appeal they chose to go for?

Or, when Mr Wattana would be one of the best lawyers they have, could he have mistaken life enprisonment for death penalty in front of the, befriended, media...?

When I'd be right:

Mr Wattana would be a 'top' lawyer, who couldn't possibly be believed to have been 'confused' to the point of mistaking life enprisonment for death penalty, and he would then probably knowingly, wittingly, have mis-informed, des-informed the media, creating agit-prop for the homefront in red territory, and, inciting negative comments about the Court's ruling in the international press...

Whatever I'd be, wrong, or right:

Would just a mere public apology and some letter of excuse by Mr Wattana be good enough, 'honest mistake', forget about it, bye-bye?

Would lawyers and attorneys need to kill off their whole family before the Bar takes hard measures against them, ...like radiation? Or ...?

[tbthailand]

b-b-b-b-buuuut Thaksin, ... well now THAT didn't take long...

btw, for those interested, Prachatai interviewed the defendant. Interesting to hear a part of his side...

Who mentioned the goblin ?. Seems like you are still mixing up the real world with your fantasy world where you can dismiss every criticism of red-shirt ethics just because they don't like Thaksin.

I wish I could live in a world as simplistic as you obviously do. I bet your carer wears a sympathetic smile and wipes the froth off your chin while you rant at her.

Just try and face up to the truth for a change. This red-shirt lawyer broke every ethic he was supposed to posses in order to feed a lie intended to agitate the low IQ 'grass roots' red-shirts. And I see it worked on the target audience.

Or do you consider these 'white lies' to be perfectly acceptable ?. Or do you actually think a lawyer mistakenly thinking a death sentence was passed is a convenient 'honest mistake' ?

funny, I always knew you kept yourself in the dark but I did think that you would recognize obvious references to Thaksin...

As for the lawyer being confused, it is actually not the case, ... seems the defendant also understood that he had a death sentence as shown from a first person interview...

You probably won't understand the technique, but the junta likes to use it all the time, ... that is, if a negative news story appears, they either directly dismiss it, or if that is not possible, they step in and try to confuse the story so that people are no longer sure of what really happened. It's a common technique by people who want to hide the truth.

Interestingly, there is a parallel in another current story about the young man taken from his bed in the hospital. The army has been back to the hospital several times and now the nurses and the director have changed their story several times... amazing, isn't it?

Again, being the super-junta-hugger that you are, I hardly expect you to be receptive to this information, nor would I expect you to voluntarily inform yourself, but others might be interested in learning that it was not the lawyer who was "confuse", but rather the lawyer who was told to be "confused" and certainly understood that it was a "confusion" which would be beneficial to his personal "health".

BTW, does anyone have a 2010 report of the arson at Ubon Ratcha-wherever .. maybe even images? I don't recall seeing it at the time, ...

PS: EJ, thanks, at least, for recognizing that I don't like Thaksin, ... most junta-huggers don't understand that..

[tbthailand]

More likely knew exactly what he was saying and was trying to stir up more trouble. All the Reds know how to do.

either you are not very informed, or not very clever about this change in story...

PS: "allseeingeye", you really did mean alias that as a joke, right.

[Artisi]

He said he was confused because he represented too many cases that day, well with incompetence like this there's a good chance his case load will drop as many may think twice about hiring him.

Its actually quite scary and makes me wonder how many other death sentences were handed out on that day to cause the confusion.........................

Very observant and thought provoking post....

[DavidBonnie]

This is so obviously a case of 'attitude adjustment' in action.

You know, that's when they force the 'wrongdoer', in this case a lawyer to sign a document giving all his worldly possessions to the army if he speaks out again. Either that or they threaten to kill his wife, kids, parents etc . .

It is just part of the military dictatorship's ongoing purge of any potential political opponents to the proxy government they will later install.

Wise up . . .life for arson ???????

[Baerboxer]

He said he was confused because he represented too many cases that day, well with incompetence like this there's a good chance his case load will drop as many may think twice about hiring him.

Its actually quite scary and makes me wonder how many other death sentences were handed out on that day to cause the confusion.........................

or more pertinent, how many death sentences were handed out in cases where this lawyer was defense counsel?

Or was he simply lying to stir up the 'faithful"?

[Baerboxer]

This is so obviously a case of 'attitude adjustment' in action.

You know, that's when they force the 'wrongdoer', in this case a lawyer to sign a document giving all his worldly possessions to the army if he speaks out again. Either that or they threaten to kill his wife, kids, parents etc . .

It is just part of the military dictatorship's ongoing purge of any potential political opponents to the proxy government they will later install.

Wise up . . .life for arson ???????

You miss the point, perhaps conveniently.

The lawyer either made a genuine honest mistake or simply lied to stir up trouble.

How many lawyers have you heard of mistaking their clients sentence for a death sentence?