I too voted "I'm not sure". He has managed to somehow attract some very high profile defense experts to his "team". How did that happen? Perhaps if he had seemed more competent during his public appearances this would not have happened. So in that sense, he has been quite effective.
Regarding "telling him the truth", it is my understanding that defense attorneys DON'T WANT guilty clients to tell them they are actually guilty of the crime because the attorney is an officer of the court. A confession of guilt to a defense attorney would put the defense attorney in a very bad position, both etchically and legally.
By the way, I would like to hear more about this concept from anyone who has a legal background. What does happen in a case where the client would confess to the murder to the defense attorney before trial?
Wasn't there talk of this during the time prior to Danielle Van Dam's body being found? It came out that Westerfield's attorney was IN A MEETING working on a plea deal based on Westerfield providing police the location of the body when it was announced that searchers had found her body.
As I recall there was criticism of his attorney for continuing to represent Westerfield after that.