Say you were accused of killing a baby. A news article ran that said you texted, “Lol about to go eat some babies!” You look like an absolute psychopath. Do you deserve representation?
Going further you know you didn’t kill the baby. The message was an unrelated tasteless joke about religion. You’ve been convicted in the court of public opinion by the aforementioned article about your deeds though. Do you think it would be fair to you, in an adversarial justice system, to not have the absolute best representation? Do you think, in those circumstances, that you should only be allowed to hire a lawyer that will half ass your case?