JAMES WOODS - WOODS HOPES NEW TV ATTORNEY WILL INSPIRE LAWMAKERS

WOODS HOPES NEW TV ATTORNEY WILL INSPIRE LAWMAKERS

Movie star JAMES WOODS hopes his new US TV drama SHARK encourages the nation's District Attorneys to take greater risks to bring felons to justice - because he's tired of seeing the guilty walk free. The actor plays tough-talking attorney SEBASTIAN STARK on the show and he feels his portrayal as a justice-seeking DA will prompt real-life lawmakers to think twice about letting miscarriages of justice take place. He rants, "I'm very moved to play the part... I think it will be an inspiration. "DAs are often political offices throughout the country, and sometimes cases where it's so clear that a crime has been committed and who the perpetrator of that crime most likely is ignored because, as a political move, if the DA thinks he or she can't win the case, they don't prosecute. "If there's a five per cent chance they could lose, they don't prosecute because they don't want to look bad. "So the criminal justice system is kind of the dog being wagged by the tail of political ambition. And that's not a good thing. "I don't think there's a person in this country... who didn't get a kick in the gut by the OJ SIMPSON verdict, or by the MICHAEL JACKSON verdict or the ROBERT BLAKE verdict."