I don ' t think it ' s meant to defend what the murderers did , but it gives examples on how they didn ' t get a fair sentencing trial and how much of that depends on your defendant and means available . There were clearly mitigating circumstances in all the cases and sometimes precedents in their favour , which Duchardt failed to research and present in court . When capital punishment is at stake it should be crucial that the level and quality of defence you get cannot be this disproportionate from one state to another . What stood out to me as flaws of the system the same judge deciding on appeals , the fact the original attorney has to admit he made mistakes , only people who aren ' t opposed to capital punishment sitting on jury , Duchardt being appointed to so many capital punishment cases .