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Should a defense counsel recuse himself if he knew his client were guilty?
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no it is up to them to win the case no matter wat
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YES OF COURSE, HE SHOULD DEFEND IS CLIENT.
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No he shouldn't unless the defense counsel is unable to act as arbitrator, essentially play 'Devil's advocate'.
An example would be the defense working to defend a woman who killed her partner, if the defense had experienced the death of her own partner, through murder or accident, she or he would have legitimate grounds to be excused from defending the person due to a conflict of interests and that is the key to this question.
When there is a conflict of interests on the part of either the defense or accusition then another party should be assigned to the case. This could be a lawyer who has shares in the company he represents, a lawyer representing someone to whom he is related, a lawyer representing to whom he has a vested personal interest in them not being found guilty, etc.
Many cases involving the defense of a witness or client involve Devil's advocate - speaking for a person, in their defense, even though you are aware of their guilt, the purpose is to ensure that the person gets a fair trial - innocent until proven guilty is the cornerstone of international justice. However the defense and accusor MUST be impartial. Whether the defense know their client is guilty or not is not important, the important thing is that the defense represents without discretion.
In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who takes a position, sometimes one he or she disagrees with, for the sake of argument. This process can be used to test the quality of the original argument and identify weaknesses in its structure. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_advocate