Levi Aron is accused of drugging, smothering, and finally dismembered Leiby Kletzky, an 8-year-old Brooklyn boy who was walking home alone from summer camp for the first time last month. So his lawyer, Jennifer McCann, is going to have a tough time convincing anyone of this argument:

Ms. McCann drew gasps from the crowd when she told reporters that this case “was no different than the DWIs and the traffic tickets and the other murder cases,” she said. “They are defendants, they have rights and we are here to defend them.”

As The New York Times's City Room blog reports, Aron was found fit to stand trial during Thursday's hearing. His defense team has expressed its concern that Aron wouldn't be able to get a fair trial in Brooklyn, where the tight-knit Hasidic Jewish community was traumatized by the killing in the Borough Park neighborhood. That may be true, but McCann would have done well to follow the lead of her client, who is reported to have stayed quiet during the hearing.

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Adam Martin