"public pretender" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Coined by analogy with public defender, with the addition of pretender to suggest that the public defender is merely pretending to provide competent legal representation.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "public pretenders",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "public pretender (plural public pretenders)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991 February 8, William Raspberry, quoting Mansuel Lee Union [inmate], “In another war, a front line tale from a despairing drug abuser”, in Milton Hoffman, editor, The Standard-Star, page 16",
          "text": "They tell me I'm due a fair trial, but they give me a publie defender (or should I say public pretender?) that has four times his normal case load. So no matter how I feel or what I think, I'm forced to put all my faith in this public pretender and hope he hasn't sold me out too badly.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Howard Campbell, quoting Felipe [pseudonym], Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez, University of Texas Press, pages 114–115",
          "text": "Felipe defiantly describes what he saw in jail: \"There were young guys... with 700-1,000 pounds [of marijuana]. My case, by comparison, was peanuts. It is all about money in El Paso—if you have the money, you get off; if you have a good lawyer, you get off. It's all about your lawyer. The people without money have to get a 'public pretender.'\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 March 9, Gordon Smith, “Namaste” (between 08:48 and 08:55 from the start), in Gordon Smith, director, Better Call Saul, season 5, episode 4, spoken by Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), via AMC",
          "text": "Are you saying that you want a free lawyer? […] Without me, they're gonna lock you up and throw away the key. I'm sorry, did I say \"five years\"? You go ahead and play Russian roulette with a public pretender, you're gonna end up doing a decade in Los Lunas!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A public defender, viewed as inadequate."
      ],
      "id": "en-public_pretender-en-noun-ttmnwQTc",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "prison",
          "prison"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "public defender",
          "public defender"
        ],
        [
          "inadequate",
          "inadequate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory, originally prison slang) A public defender, viewed as inadequate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "public pretender"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Coined by analogy with public defender, with the addition of pretender to suggest that the public defender is merely pretending to provide competent legal representation.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "public pretenders",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "public pretender (plural public pretenders)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English prison slang",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991 February 8, William Raspberry, quoting Mansuel Lee Union [inmate], “In another war, a front line tale from a despairing drug abuser”, in Milton Hoffman, editor, The Standard-Star, page 16",
          "text": "They tell me I'm due a fair trial, but they give me a publie defender (or should I say public pretender?) that has four times his normal case load. So no matter how I feel or what I think, I'm forced to put all my faith in this public pretender and hope he hasn't sold me out too badly.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Howard Campbell, quoting Felipe [pseudonym], Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez, University of Texas Press, pages 114–115",
          "text": "Felipe defiantly describes what he saw in jail: \"There were young guys... with 700-1,000 pounds [of marijuana]. My case, by comparison, was peanuts. It is all about money in El Paso—if you have the money, you get off; if you have a good lawyer, you get off. It's all about your lawyer. The people without money have to get a 'public pretender.'\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 March 9, Gordon Smith, “Namaste” (between 08:48 and 08:55 from the start), in Gordon Smith, director, Better Call Saul, season 5, episode 4, spoken by Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), via AMC",
          "text": "Are you saying that you want a free lawyer? […] Without me, they're gonna lock you up and throw away the key. I'm sorry, did I say \"five years\"? You go ahead and play Russian roulette with a public pretender, you're gonna end up doing a decade in Los Lunas!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A public defender, viewed as inadequate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "prison",
          "prison"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "public defender",
          "public defender"
        ],
        [
          "inadequate",
          "inadequate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory, originally prison slang) A public defender, viewed as inadequate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "public pretender"
}