“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 defence.” (US Const., 8th Amend.) As shown in the constitution the right to counsel for the defense is a key right in our judicial system. The role of the public-defender office is one of utmost importance and rightfully so; every day various arrests are made in relation to all sorts of crimes. As a result many of those who face charges will hire an attorney to provide them with legal assistance. However it is no secret that attorney fees can be quite costly and not everyone can afford to spend such large sums of money at any given point in time. To allow equal access, the government spends millions of taxpayer dollars on the public defense system. These offices and their employees are considered to be part of the Judicial Branch. Their purpose is to provide indigent defendants with access to trained attorneys, which in turn provide them with free legal assistance in regards to their respective case. However, with such a large and important task, this system has key issues that raise the following questions: Is there a standard for the service provided by the attorney that is met by the public defenders? Do these attorneys receive adequate training and funds in order to represent indigent defendants equally? Should the defendants be appointed attorneys who are equal to...
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Pagan writes a captivating story mingled with the challenges of the Eastern Shore legal system. This book gives a complete explanation backed up by research and similar cases as evidence of the ever-changing legal system. It should be a required reading for a history or law student.
Washington Law Review, Vol. 86, Issue 4 (December 2011), pp. 841-874 Barnum, Jeffrey C. 86 Wash. L. Rev. 841 (2011)
There are certain standards that the courts use to determine competency. In order to find the accused competent, a court should find out by a preponderance of evidence that the defendant has remarkable ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational indulgence. The def...
The Supreme Court, Strickland case set the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984): the defendant David Washington had pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and was sentenced to death. During the sentencing process Washington lawyer did not seek any character witnesses and did not request any psychiatric evaluation for his client. Due to this defendant decided to appeal his sentence on the basis of inadequate representation of his attorney a violation of ...
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people in these 21st century society wonder, “When is Justice to be done?” For district attorneys,
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