Steve Twist is no villain. He pushes for justice because of crime victims like me
Twelve years ago, two thugs murdered my son in a robbery gone bad near Arizona State University. As the news spread, family and friends began to call. Then a call rang that was not one of my stored contacts.
That call was from Steve Twist.
Until then, I’d never heard his name before. He asked how I was doing. I don’t think he knew I was a lawyer. He gave his sincere condolences and then offered my family and me any legal help we might need as victims of a violent crime. It was uniquely beautiful.
Steve Twist was one of the first to call. Now, almost 12 years later, he is one of a few who calls now and then to check up on my other kids and me. In fact, he may be the only one who still calls.
I’m not complaining. It’s just true; the world moves quickly past crime victims. Many victims of violent crimes barely move at all.
Twist understands crime victims like few others
Twist understands this.
Politicians do not understand because they only care which way the wind blows. Journalists do not understand because they watch and report on trials without understanding the human tragedy sitting in the courtroom – the victims.
Courtroom players are too busy trying to close the case and move on. This leaves only a few who genuinely focus on the crime victim’s well-being.
Steve Twist is one of the few who does just that; his way.
In the July 17 article “The invisible hand of Steve Twist,” the author uses statistics to illustrate that a disproportionate number of minority persons populate Arizona’s prisons.
What those statistics mean in the real world is something we must decide with our own conscience guided by our morals. The problem with the way the author used the statistics in the context of the article is that they imply Twist’s work on criminal justice policy is at least partly motivated by racism, bigotry and prejudice.
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I have known Twist for more than 12 years in professional and casual settings. There has never been a single instance, in any of the hundreds if not thousands of hours of conversation, where he even hinted that he was anything other than color and race-blind.
Don't vilify him for seeking justice
His motivation is singular: The protection of crime victims. And victims of crime come to us from all races, sexes, creeds, countries and immigration statuses.
In Arizona, all victims of crime have a champion in Steve Twist. He has spent countless hours of his life in courtrooms, law schools and the halls of the Legislature, constantly arguing that not only do crime victims exist, but they are just as deserving of justice and due process as the defendant.
This is a simple truth.
Yet, rather than recognize this simple truth, the ProPublica article The Arizona Republic published attempts to vilify Twist with stories of people who made choices to commit crimes. Rather than acknowledge the need to hold people accountable and minimize the creation of new victims, the article makes excuses.
Well, excuses don’t stop bleeding from gunshot wounds and can’t replace lost loved ones. Twist knows the difference between misplaced empathy and the duty of government to protect the public. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, Philadelphia and New York are examples of what the opposite looks like.
As one who has experienced grief from losing a child to violence and then enduring the criminal justice system, I’ll take one of Steve Twist’s invisible hands over hundreds of visible ones who feign concern and cannot or will not stand for what is right versus what is convenient.
Daniel Marco is a personal injury attorney in Gilbert. Reach him at dmarcoesq@aol.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Steve Twist is no bad guy for defending crime victims like me
