I stumbled across this GOP attack on Tim Kane on the Internet Archives.
It’s a variation on the Willie Horton ad.
There is no attempt to discuss the serious problems that face
the citizens of the United States.
There’s no mention of healthcare, income inequality, Social Security or
job loss.
Released October 4, 2016
The ad says that Kaine “consistently protected the worst kinds of people.”
What the ad doesn’t say is that as a Civil Rights Lawyer who often worked
pro-bono, Tim Kane was fulfilling his Constitutional Duty as required by the 6th Amendment:
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
In the mid in the mid-20th century the Supreme Court ruled that defendants who couldn’t afford to hire lawyers had the right to public defenders. But the basic fact of it is pretty inviolable. There is no crime so heinous in the US court system that a lawyer is not permitted — even obligated — to speak in its defense. Vox
It’s noteworthy that the GOP attacks Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing:

For the truth behind the lie that Hillary Clinton freed a child rapist please read Snopes.com.
With the RNC using disinformation campaigns to subvert the political process, who needs Vladimir Putin?

RG 2016