next to him we have jamie floyd. broadcast anger for network news. many of you know her from her daily live broadcast "the best defense. next is a local attorney who has handled a number of high-profile cases including a nationally publicized acquittals of actor robert blake and civil rights lawyer stephen bingham. to his left is a career public defender from washington state. she is a blunder and has her own -- blogger and has her own

next to him we have jamie floyd. broadcast anger for network news.many of you know her from her daily live broadcast "the best defense. next is a local attorney who has handled a number of high-profile cases including a nationally publicized acquittals of actor robert blake and civil rights lawyer stephen bingham. to his left is a career public defender from washington state. she is a blunder and has her own -- blogger and has her own blog. so'. does the media contributes to a negative misconception of public defenders, and more broadly, criminal defense attorneys? >> no, thank you. [laughter] >> absolutely yes. i think for the most part, there is the lack of understanding on the part of the american public on more critical role of the public defender. it is laid down in our sixth amendment. we do not teach it properly in primary school education. the public learned of it through the news media and come to some extent, through the entertainment media. most of my colleagues, and it with a bias that is predisposed against the criminal defendant and cri

>>> for some perspective on the strauss-kahn case we turn to defense attorney and legal analyst jami floyd. michelle just sort of painted a picture of what strauss-kahn is going through right now. and you say there are actually some advantages to him being out on bail in this lower manhattan apartment. explain that. >> well, absolutely. if he were behind bars any time his lawyers wanted to consult with him, to prepare his strategy for court, they'd have to go to rikers. they'd have to go through security. it would be very, very limited in terms of their access to him in preparation for trial. which will be lengthy, i assume. because he's probably not going to exercise his speedy trial right. and so now they have unlimited access to him. and he can, as michelle reported, also leave with the judge's permission to go to their offices and prepare for trial. so, in terms of just the preparation for defense, this is much, much preferable. also, in terms of his psychology, his appearance to the potential jury pool, this is better. so, all across the board, this is far preferable. >> what kind of