sixth amendment

That bus is not for your client

Jun 8th

The internet has changed everything. Every fool with no money has a blog, every newspaper website caters to the lowest common denominator and every twit can Tweet for free. A percentage of these are former and current clients, both gruntled and dis.

Back in the old days, when you walked 20 miles to work, uphill, in blizzards, with no shoes, the only medium for clients to express their displeasure was filing a grievance with the state bar. Now, clients are able to air their grievances in a more public forum, with no restrictions that their complaints be made in good faith or sworn to.

And since you are what the internet says you are, how far can (or should) one go in response, asks Mike C:

What if a former client writes: “My lawyer was terrible. He never returned my calls or e-mails. I had a million-dollar case, and she blew it!”

Some prospective clients might read that blog entry, and thus never call the lawyer. Current clients might get nervous. Other lawyers might decline to refer a case to the bad lawyer.

Under the current Rules of Professional Conduct, it would certainly be unethical for the lawyer to write: “John Smith called me 5 times each day. He asked the same questions over and over again. After evaluating his case through discovery, we realized his case was marginal. We told him to settle the case for $25,000 – nuisance value. He refused. The trial court dismissed the case on summary judgment. Now he’s angry. By the way, you can read the case filings here, here, and here to decide for yourself whether we blew a huge case.”

Does that Rule make sense? A lawyer can lose business. Online reputation matters – not for a lawyer’s ego – but for his business. The law offers trademark protection. A brand matters. A lawyer is only as good as her name. Shouldn’t a lawyer be able to breach some aspects of the attorney-client privilege in order to protect her name?

First off, this really is nothing new, at least for those of us in the high-volume criminal defense business. I’ve had clients tell me they didn’t want me to represent them and wanted me to, in the same week, based on what their then-cellmates told them about me. You are as good as your current client’s former cellmate says you are.

Second, the differences between revealing confidences to defend against a disciplinary proceeding and responding to a blog post or newspaper comment are quite obvious. The grievance proceeding requires you to defend against the accusations, for failing to do so affects your livelihood.

But what of Mike’s point of the reputation of the lawyer in this age where more and more people are relying on the internet to secure representation? I have the wherewithal to explore any concerns I might have about a prospective lawyer with real people who know that lawyer and that lawyer’s work, but might a potential client? Why shouldn’t a lawyer have the ability to respond, albeit in a limited fashion to that Festivus tradition?

Scott’s take is similarly multi-faceted. He, too, recognizes the need to permit the attorney to have the ability to respond in some fashion, but cautions us that it is constrained in many ways by our continuing obligation to our clients:

[In response to Mike's hypothetical] I’m not entirely clear that’s accurate. Waiver of privilege is an all or nothing proposition. Once a client discloses confidential communications to others, it constitutes a waiver. It’s the client’s to waive, and there’s nothing to prevent her from doing so. It may be stupid and foolhardy, and the client may not realize the significance of disclosure and waiver, but it’s her right to let the world know what happened within the sanctity of the attorney/client relationship. Once waived, however, the privilege is extinguished. Like pregnancy, it’s not just a little waived. It’s waived. End of privilege.

Thus, while there may be no ethical or legal impediment to the use of privileged communications to fend off an attack, and while waiver means waiver, we nonetheless have a duty to disclose no more than is necessary to respond, and a duty to do no harm to the client in the process. While the best defense may be a good offense under other circumstances, we’re constrained to use the least harmful defense possible.

Clearly, the limits placed on our ability to lash back at those who might lash out at us puts lawyers at something of a disadvantage in a street fight, and certainly an attack on the internet can bear all the indicia of a street fight.

I don’t know much about the grievance process and the extent of confidential communications and privileged information that one can disclose in response to a grievance, but there is another area of the law in which confidences are routinely disclosed and that’s the post-conviction setting.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

In my fleeting dalliance with the post-conviction world, I noticed many odd behaviors by defense attorneys and a marked change in attitude toward the client. For some reason even the most experienced criminal defense attorneys never seemed to grasp the simple fact that the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel was not – and never will be – a personal attack. It is yet another of those Constitutional rights afforded the defendant that we seek to so zealously uphold when we are representing them on the front end.

In the post-conviction context, there is plenty of case law that makes clear that the filing of a habeas corpus petition does not constitute a “full waiver” of attorney-client privilege and regardless of any other duty that the lawyer may have to his former client, the waiver is a limited waiver:

Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are routinely raised in felony cases, particularly when a sentence of death has been imposed. If the federal courts were to require habeas petitioners to give up the privilege categorically and for all purposes, attorneys representing criminal defendants in state court would have to worry constantly about whether their casefiles and client conversations would someday fall into the hands of the prosecution. In addition, they would have to consider the very real possibility that they might be called to testify against their clients, not merely to defend their own professional conduct, but to help secure a conviction on retrial. A broad waiver rule would no doubt inhibit the kind of frank attorney-client communications and vigorous investigation of all possible defenses that the attorney-client and work product privileges are designed to promote.

Were such a broad waiver necessary to satisfy federal interests, the state’s interest in protecting lawyer-client confidences might have to yield. But we can conceive of no federal interest in enlarging the scope of the waiver beyond what is needed to litigate the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in federal court. A waiver that limits the use of privileged communications to adjudicating the ineffective assistance of counsel claim fully serves federal interests. See Laughner, 373 F.2d at 327. At the same time, a narrow waiver rule — one limited to the rationale undergirding it — will best preserve the state’s vital interest in safeguarding the attorney-client privilege in criminal cases, thereby ensuring that the state’s criminal lawyers continue to represent their clients zealously.

A narrow waiver rule is also consistent with the interests of the habeas petitioner in obtaining a fair adjudication of his petition and securing a retrial untainted by constitutional errors.

Bittaker v. Woodford (9th Cir. 2003). And yet this simple, yet powerful rationale is completely wasted on scores of lawyers. Lawyers “defending” against claims of IAC seem to think:

That they are a party to the habeas corpus proceeding;
That counsel for the actual party, the Respondent, is their lawyer;
That they must give the State dirt on the client;
That they must turn over their file to the State;
That they must not co-operate with counsel for the former client;
The file belongs to the lawyer, not the client.

This is not a test. All 6 are wrong. Utterly, completely wrong. It is very revealing when a lawyer maintains a poor file during his representation of the client, but even more so when that same lawyer takes affirmative steps to hinder the prosecution of a habeas corpus petition. There is nothing more aggravating, disappointing and disgusting than when trial counsel takes the stand in a habeas hearing and suddenly cannot remember details he’d previously disclosed to the habeas attorney or somehow can miraculously remember in excruciating detail conversations that he’d minutes ago, off the record, confessed to habeas counsel of having no memory of.

One of the worst things you can do as a criminal defense attorney is make an error that may have contributed to the conviction of a client. Compounding that by standing on the sidelines as that conviction is affirmed will not help you sleep better at night.

There are some very simple rules for ethical behavior in the post-conviction context [read this Champion article (HTML version) for some in-depth counseling]. Remember that the right to effective assistance of counsel is a Constitutionally afford right to the client who is spending his days and nights in jail. Also remember that it is not for you to decide whether you provided effective assistance of counsel. Don’t reveal more than is required by the scope of the IAC allegations. Don’t offer up your client on a platter.

Worried about your reputation? The lawyer who doesn’t get in the way of his client in the post-conviction arena almost always has a better reputation than the lawyer who does, at least in the legal community, if not among the clientele. That’s because it conveys one very important fact: that you are going to put the client’s interests ahead of your own.

Heed the advice we give our clients about cops: “they’re not your friend”. The respondent? Not your client’s friend.

That bus? It’s not for you to throw your client under.

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Preempting Strickland

May 9th

Posted by Gideon in criminal law principles

4 comments

The Sixth Amendment right of the “accused” to assistance of counsel in “all criminal prosecutions” is limited by its terms: “it does not attach until a prosecution is commenced.” McNeil v. Wisconsin, 501 U. S. 171, 175 (1991); see also Moran v. Burbine, 475 U. S. 412, 430 (1986). We have, for purposes of the right to counsel, pegged commencement to “‘the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings—whether by way of formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment,’” United States v. Gouveia, 467 U. S. 180, 188 (1984) (quoting Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U. S. 682, 689 (1972) (plurality opinion)). The rule is not “mere formalism,” but a recognition of the point at which “the government has committed itself to prosecute,” “the adverse positions of government and defendant have solidified,” and the accused “finds himself faced with the prosecutorial forces of organized society, and immersed in the intricacies of substantive and procedural criminal law.” Kirby, supra, at 689.

Rothgery v. Gillespie County (my prior post on Rothgery here). The importance of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel was underscored by the Supreme Court in United States v. Cronic:

Of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have.

In McMann v. Richardson, the Court recognize the right to counsel to mean “the right to effective assistance of counsel”. Drawing on the mandate of this most excellent quote from Marbury v. Madison (“every right, when withheld, must have a remedy, and every injury its proper redress”), the Court, in Strickland, gave teeth (however blunt) to that right, requiring a new trial for a defendant whose conviction was obtained in violation of the Sixth Amendment.

But all of this – Strickland, Cronic, even the quote in Marbury – is somewhat contradictory and rather backward looking. On one hand, these rights attach at the very institution of a criminal proceeding and counsel has tremendous duties and responsibilities to ensure that the defendant has a fair trial:

Representation of a criminal defendant entails certain basic duties. Counsel’s function is to assist the defendant, and hence counsel owes the client a duty of loyalty, a duty to avoid conflicts of interest. See Cuyler v. Sullivan. From counsel’s function as assistant to the defendant derive the overarching duty to advocate the defendant’s cause and the more particular duties to consult with the defendant on important decisions and to keep the defendant informed of important developments in the course of the prosecution. Counsel also has a duty to bring to bear such skill and knowledge as will render the trial a reliable adversarial testing process. See Powell v. Alabama.

On the other hand, any vindication of this Sixth Amendment right must come after a conviction is obtained. Thus, the “two-pronged” approach to deciding ineffectiveness claims:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

Although we have discussed the performance component of an ineffectiveness claim prior to the prejudice component, there is no reason for a court deciding an ineffective assistance claim to approach the inquiry in the same order or even to address both components of the inquiry if the defendant makes an insufficient showing on one. In particular, a court need not determine whether counsel’s performance was deficient before examining the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the alleged deficiencies. The object of an ineffectiveness claim is not to grade counsel’s performance. If it is easier to dispose of an ineffectiveness claim on the ground of lack of sufficient prejudice, which we expect will often be so, that course should be followed. Courts should strive to ensure that ineffectiveness claims not become so burdensome to defense counsel that the entire criminal justice system suffers as a result.

There may be an acknowledgment that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel has been violated due to sub-par performance on the part of the lawyer, but there doesn’t need to be any remedy because there was no harm – or, in other words, the “he’s guilty as hell so what difference does it make?” legal principle. What sort of a right is a right without any redress?

Certainly, the vast majority of trials will fall on two points on the spectrum: those with no errors and those with errors so debatable that one cannot know, during the pendency of the trial, whether they will have any impact on the outcome at all. Perhaps these are best reserved for review after the outcome.

But there are some errors, in the pre-trial context or even during a trial, that are so glaring, so immediate a denial of counsel that to proceed to a sham verdict and then “allow” the defendant to challenge his “conviction” would indeed be a manifest injustice. And yet the courts provide for no remedy for such a violation.

I’ve observed many trials and read just as many transcripts of trials. In a very small percentage of these, it was obvious to all present that counsel had absolutely no idea what he/she was doing. And yet, apart from the judge’s few feeble attempts to “assist” the attorney, the mockery was allowed to continue. For what can one do? Per the mandate of Strickland, there is no harm until there is a conviction, even though there will be one is abundantly apparent to all.

And even when the conviction is obtained and the challenge commenced, the institutional roadblocks to meaningful review of counsel’s performance are ever present. First, we must give high deference to the reasonableness of counsel’s performance:

Judicial scrutiny of counsel’s performance must be highly deferential. It is all too tempting for a defendant to second-guess counsel’s assistance after conviction or adverse sentence, and it is all too easy for a court, examining counsel’s defense after it has proved unsuccessful, to conclude that a particular act or omission of counsel was unreasonable. Cf. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 133-134 (1982). A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time. Because of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action “might be considered sound trial strategy.” See Michel v. Louisiana, supra, at 101.

Then, when we’re done ticking that box, we must view counsel’s performance through his/her eyes at the time of that performance:

Thus, a court deciding an actual ineffectiveness claim must judge the reasonableness of counsel’s challenged conduct on the facts of the particular case, viewed as of the time of counsel’s conduct. A convicted defendant making a claim of ineffective assistance must identify the acts or omissions of counsel that are alleged not to have been the result of reasonable professional judgment. The court must then determine whether, in light of all the circumstances, the identified acts or omissions were outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance. In making that determination, the court should keep in mind that counsel’s function, as elaborated in prevailing professional norms, is to make the adversarial testing process work in the particular case. At the same time, the court should recognize that counsel is strongly presumed to have rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment.

And finally, the defendant has to overcome the “it didn’t matter anyway” stonewall:

An error by counsel, even if professionally unreasonable, does not warrant setting aside the judgment of a criminal proceeding if the error had no effect on the judgment. Cf. United States v. Morrison, 449 U. S. 361, 364-365 (1981). The purpose of the Sixth Amendment guarantee of counsel is to ensure that a defendant has the assistance necessary to justify reliance on the outcome of the proceeding. Accordingly, any deficiencies in counsel’s performance must be prejudicial to the defense in order to constitute ineffective assistance under the Constitution.

Attorney errors come in an infinite variety and are as likely to be utterly harmless in a particular case as they are to be prejudicial. They cannot be classified according to likelihood of causing prejudice. Nor can they be defined with sufficient precision to inform defense attorneys correctly just what conduct to avoid. Representation is an art, and an act or omission that is unprofessional in one case may be sound or even brilliant in another. Even if a defendant shows that particular errors of counsel were unreasonable, therefore, the defendant must show that they actually had an adverse effect on the defense.

Even in the “denial of counsel” cases, the determination is always made ex post facto. Never has there been a case, to my knowledge, where a trial has been stopped midway and the parties have said: “this cannot proceed; this defendant must have adequate counsel”. Yet, the caselaw is littered with examples of poor lawyering and convictions being reversed. Why must we wait until a defendant has been convicted, spent years in jail, endured countless rounds of litigation to have a right vindicated that everyone knew was denied him in the first place?

the presumption that a criminal judgment is final is at its strongest in collateral attacks on that judgment. See United States v. Frady; Engle v. Isaac.

Oh. That’s why. Granted, I am talking about a very small universe of cases, but the fact that this occurs and there is no remedy begs the question.

The Sixth Amendment right is not – and cannot – be limited to a trial alone. Indeed, it is clear that “to deprive a person of counsel during the period prior to trial may be more damaging than denial of counsel during the trial itself”. Maine v Moulton. I suppose that there are some options available to defendants who feel like they are receiving ineffective assistance of counsel pre-trial: they can file a motion to fire the lawyer or they can file a motion to withdraw their plea based on ineffective assistance of counsel (here, in CT, pursuant to Practice Book section 39-27). We know, though, how these arguments are viewed by the establishment: “oh, he’s just being difficult” or “he’s trying to game the system”. In Connecticut, the 39-27 IAC claim is a joke. I’ve never seen it granted. Judges routinely deny the motion to withdraw the plea without so much as appointing new counsel to investigate the claim and almost always without an evidentiary hearing. In both those instances, it’s the word of the defendant against, well, the system. The lawyer is put in a terrible position of having to defend himself, while still representing the interests of the client.

It’s the juggernaut of the conviction and it keeps rolling, rolling.

And of what of the defendant who jumps up during a trial because he can’t take it anymore, who can see that his lawyer has so badly messed things up that his conviction is a foregone conclusion? What redress does he have? Is he entitled to any? Or does he just have to take his lumps and hope that down the road, someone will see it his way and give him a new trial with a competent lawyer?

One way to assuage some of the doubts is to ensure that states provide adequate and competent public defenders, with resources necessary to effectively represent clients. But, then again, these systemic claims do not implicate Strickland.

Strickland was a mutant born of a half-hearted attempt to give meaning to a core Constitutional right. It is time for it to die and to be replaced by a better, more effective standard that actually means something to those whose confidence in their convictions has been undermined.

—————————————————————————————————————————

1. As an aside, I found the following passages from Justice O’Connor’s opinion in Strickland to be rather interesting. I’ll have to give it some more thought, but perhaps the habeas practitioner could find some meaning in the attempted explanation of the prejudice prong.

Even when the specified attorney error results in the omission of certain evidence, the newly discovered evidence standard is not an apt source from which to draw a prejudice standard for ineffectiveness claims. The high standard for newly discovered evidence claims presupposes that all the essential elements of a presumptively accurate and fair proceeding were present in the proceeding whose result is challenged. Cf. United States v. Johnson, 327 U. S. 106, 112 (1946). An ineffective assistance claim asserts the absence of one of the crucial assurances that the result of the proceeding is reliable, so finality concerns are somewhat weaker and the appropriate standard of prejudice should be somewhat lower. The result of a proceeding can be rendered unreliable, and hence the proceeding itself unfair, even if the errors of counsel cannot be shown by a preponderance of the evidence to have determined the outcome.

Accordingly, the appropriate test for prejudice finds its roots in the test for materiality of exculpatory information not disclosed to the defense by the prosecution, United States v. Agurs, 427 U. S., at 104, 112-113, and in the test for materiality of testimony made unavailable to the defense by Government deportation of a witness, United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, supra, at 872-874. The defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.

2. Another aside: While writing this post, I had the nagging feeling that I’d touched upon this topic before. Turns out, I have. With a very similar title. Two years ago. Just goes to show that I’ve been blogging for a really long time and that there is such a thing as “dearth of topics”.

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iac

The defendant’s right to trial by jury

May 4th

Posted by Gideon in criminal law principles

16 comments

Article III, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States states:

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury . . .

The Sixth Amendment was made applicable to the various states through the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Connecticut Constitution, in Article I, Section 8 states:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have a right … in all prosecutions by indictment or information, to a speedy, public trial by an impartial jury.

This is further codified in Connecticut law in both the practice book and the general statutes. C.G.S. 54-82b provides:

(a) The party accused in a criminal action in the Superior Court may demand a trial by jury of issues which are triable of right by a jury. [...]

(b) In criminal proceedings the judge shall advise the accused of his right to trial by jury at the time he is put to plea and, if the accused does not then claim a jury, his right thereto shall be deemed waived, but if a judge acting on motion made by the accused within ten days after judgment finds that such waiver was made when the accused was not fully cognizant of his rights or when, in the opinion of the judge, the proper administration of justice requires it, the judge shall vacate the judgment and cause the proceeding to be set for jury trial.

Practice Book Section 42-1 provides:

The defendant in a criminal action may demand a trial by jury of issues which are triable of right by jury. If at the time the defendant is put to plea, he or she elects a trial by the court, the judicial authority shall advise the defendant of his or her right to a trial by jury and that a failure to elect a jury trial at that time may constitute a waiver of that right. If the defendant does not then elect a jury trial, the defendant’s right thereto may be deemed to have been waived.

The reason I mention all of this is that the other day, I was reading Mark Bennett’s series of interesting posts on jury selection in Texas. He was in the courtroom, not as a participant in the process, and reported the entire voir dire conducted by the prosecutor and pro-se defendant. In his final post, I noted this (which is Mark’s narration of the pro-se defendant speaking to the venirepersons):

AP [prosecutor] is new here, and I had agreed to have case before the judge (objection overruled). I was comfortable with the court system. The court called me a week later . . . (objection sustained). (State refused to waive jury? WTF, AP?)

That got me thinking. As evidenced by the Constitutional provisions listed above, I’ve always believed that the right to trial by jury is the defendant’s and defendant’s alone. Was I mistaken? So I tried to locate the relevant jury waiver provision in Texas’ criminal code. This is what I found:

Art. 1.13. WAIVER OF TRIAL BY JURY. (a) The defendant in a criminal prosecution for any offense other than a capital felony case in which the State notifies the court and the defendant that it will seek the death penalty shall have the right, upon entering a plea, to waive the right of trial by jury, conditioned, however, that such waiver must be made in person by the defendant in writing in open court with the consent and approval of the court, and the attorney representing the State. The consent and approval by the court shall be entered of record on the minutes of the court, and the consent and approval of the attorney representing the State shall be in writing, signed by him, and filed in the papers of the cause before the defendant enters his plea.

(b) In a capital felony case in which the attorney representing the State notifies the court and the defendant that it will not seek the death penalty, the defendant may waive the right to trial by jury but only if the attorney representing the State, in writing and in open court, consents to the waiver.

That’s certainly a little strange. What confounds the matter further is the very next provision:

Art. 1.14. WAIVER OF RIGHTS. (a) The defendant in a criminal prosecution for any offense may waive any rights secured him by law except that a defendant in a capital felony case may waive the right of trial by jury only in the manner permitted by Article 1.13(b) of this code.

But what of Article 1.13(a), which lays out the procedure for waiving a jury in a non-capital case? All the language I could find in constitutional jurisprudence assigned the right to a trial by jury to the defendant only. Take, for example, Patton v. United States, a case in which the defense and prosecution agreed to have the defendant tried by 11 instead of 12, after one juror fell sick. Justice Sutherland, for the majority, wrote:

We come, then, to the crucial inquiry: Is the effect of the constitutional provisions in respect of trial by jury to establish a tribunal as a part of the frame of government, or only to guaranty to the accused the right to such a trial? If the former, the question certified by the lower court must, without more, be answered in the negative.

…

In the light of the foregoing it is reasonable to conclude that the framers of the Constitution simply were intent upon preserving the right of trial by jury primarily for the protection of the accused. If not, and their intention went beyond this and included the purpose of establishing the jury for the trial of crimes as an integral and inseparable part of the court, instead of one of its instrumentalities, it is strange that nothing to that effect appears in contemporaneous literature or in any of the debates or innumerable discussions of the time. This is all the more remarkable when we recall the minute scrutiny to which every provision of the proposed Constitution was subjected. The reasonable inference is that the concern of the framers of the Constitution was to make clear that the right of trial by jury should remain inviolable, to which end no language was deemed too imperative. That this was the purpose of the Third Article is rendered highly probable by a consideration of the form of expression used in the Sixth Amendment.

The Court then concludes:

Upon this view of the constitutional provisions we conclude that Article III, Section 2, is not jurisdictional, but was meant to confer a right upon the accused which he may forego at his election. To deny his power to do so, is to convert a privilege into an imperative requirement.

Lending further support to the argument that the right is the defendant’s alone is the court’s discussion of the ability of the defendant to waive any damn right he pleases:

A defendant is supposed to understand his rights, and may be aided, if he so desires, by counsel to advise him. There are many legal provisions for his security and benefit which he may dispense with absolutely, as, for instance, his right to plead guilty and submit to sentence without any trial whatsoever.

So how does one square this core Constitutional right, which by all accounts, seems to be confer the benefit solely on the defendant along with the ability to waive this right if he so chooses, with what appears to be a prohibition in Texas on the waiver of this right without the permission of the State? Have I misread Texas’ statute? Perhaps Mark can chime in here and clarify things. Do other states have a similar requirement?

[Note: I know that caselaw establishes there is no fundamental right to trial by jury where the punishment does not exceed six months and yes, death is different and in capital cases, the consent of all parties is required to waive a jury.]

[Note 2: If nothing else, the Patton case and State v. Gannon - a 1902 Connecticut case - make for fascinating reading. They both explore the deep and rich history of the Constitution and their underpinnings of the right to a jury trial and the process by which that right came to be recognized.]

Institutional coddling

Apr 27th

Posted by Gideon in clients

26 comments

Lawyers are coddled, writes Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle, because they can’t be sued unless a client’s conviction is overturned. They’re coddled because they’re not monetarily liable for any errors they make that result in a conviction.

Bennett takes a bite at the apple, which in turn causes Greenfield to jump in. Bennett first:

The aim of the legal system—civil and criminal—when someone is sentenced to more time through the fault of his lawyer should be to reduce that person’s sentence, rather than to compensate him for it. Getting lawyers to help fix their own mistakes should take priority over getting them to pay up.

A rule that encourages lawyers who make mistakes that harm their clients to come clean is preferable to one that encourages them to stonewall. Allowing clients to sue lawyers because their sentences are too long encourages lawyers to stonewall. As the law stands, even with no practical sanction, too many criminal defense lawyers treat an ineffective-assistance claim as a personal affront; better lawyers treat it as one last opportunity to help the client get free. Add a financial penalty, though, and it’ll be only the rare (or well-insured) lawyer who tries to help his client get his sentence reduced.

So the rule that a person who hasn’t been acquitted can’t sue his lawyer for negligence, even if that negligence resulted in a lengthier sentence, benefits not only the criminal defense bar but also—and maybe more so—the wrongfully sentenced.

Bennett mentions the problem I have with coddled lawyers, but only in passing. Greenfield places the blame squarely on our shoulders:

The mistake is a problem, but not the most significant problem. The one that undermines our integrity, and gives rise to Rick Casey’s complaint, is our inability to admit our error and correct it. Rather than concede error, lawyers try to bury it. [...]

Rick Casey’s issue is real, and it’s getting worse rather than better. It was a problem before, and is more of a problem today. We are coddled, and we coddle ourselves. No amount of lip service paid to the defendant we failed, who sits in a prison cell while lawyers ingratiate themselves with others to get more twitter love, cares how many followers we have. This mutual admiration society with people we don’t even know is not a substitute for having the guts to own up to mistakes so that human beings don’t spend a second longer suffering for them than they should.

The answer isn’t disclosing whether we possess malpractice insurance. The answer is being a real criminal defense lawyer, warts and all, rather than just pretending to be one for the benefit of being part of the gang. Do the hard work that minimizes the potential for mistakes. But when a screw-up happens, as it invariably will, make it right.

They’re both right. We are coddled. But they don’t focus on the other “third prong”, as it were, of the coddling. It doesn’t just come from the fraternity of lawyers, but from on high. The coddling of lawyers is institutionalized in our jurisprudence. From the collective mistrust and offhand dismissal of allegations of ineffective assistance that pervades the criminal bar to the vast legal opinions that ridicule such claims to the institutional roadblocks to even getting judicial review of the mistakes made by lawyers in their handling of cases.

Ask anyone who’s tried an ineffective assistance of counsel case. The coddling begins at the beginning. First, the community of habeas corpus lawyers are treated as lepers; outsiders on the lunatic fringes of the criminal defense bar. Trial lawyers are dismissive and uncooperative. Clients seeking redress via The Great Writ are viewed as whiners, their lawyers are traitors. Files aren’t turned over, communication is non-existent and the defenses are raised to maximum alert.

Habeas petitioners then have to jump through unmanageable hoops to actually get the merits of their claims heard by courts. Procedural default, deliberate bypass, cause and prejudice are institutional tools designed to protect the “finality” of convictions and to punish the defendant for failing to do that which a lawyer should have done and didn’t: provide effective assistance and own up to mistakes. The jurisprudence places the onus on the pro-se defendant to recognize that a) his lawyer has messed up and b) that he has an avenue for redress.

And if this defendant is somehow able to surmount the gargantuan task of getting a court to consider the merits, he is faced with the three-headed monster: an uncooperative trial lawyer, a skeptical, cynical and weary judge and a veritable landfill of caselaw that is designed to thwart his every effort to ensure that “justice” is done in his case.

Judicial scrutiny of counsel’s performance must be highly deferential. It is all too tempting for a defendant to second-guess counsel’s assistance after conviction or adverse sentence, and it is all too easy for a court, examining counsel’s defense after it has proved unsuccessful, to conclude that a particular act or omission of counsel was unreasonable. Cf. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 133-134 (1982). A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time. Because of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action “might be considered sound trial strategy.” See Michel v. Louisiana, supra, at 101. There are countless ways to provide effective assistance in any given case. Even the best criminal defense attorneys would not defend a particular client in the same way. See Goodpaster, 690 The Trial for Life: Effective Assistance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, 58 N. Y. U. L. Rev. 299, 343 (1983).

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Courts are even given the power to deny the petitioner relief on either prong of Strickland:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

Because the petitioner must satisfy both prongs of the Strickland test to prevail on a habeas corpus petition, this court may dispose of the petitioner’s claim if he fails to meet either prong. See Taft v. Commissioner of Correction, 47 Conn. App. 499, 504[...] (1998). We therefore need not decide whether the petitioner was denied the effective assistance of either his trial or habeas counsel because he has failed to demonstrate that he was prejudiced by his counsels’ assistance, whether or not it was deficient.

Denby v. Comm’r, 66 Conn. App. 809 (2001). Everywhere he turns, there are untameable lions guarding the exits. The collective ego of the profession prevents the one person whose life is altered by a brush with the justice system from every seeking and gaining redress. This is not surprising. Judges, after all, were also once lawyers. And the conventional wisdom, shared by most judges and prosecutors and defense lawyers, is that habeas is nothing but hogwash; another lame attempt by a clearly guilty man at escaping blame for his own evil and immoral actions.

If this is to change, if we are to truly care about the people that are processed like cogs on an assembly line, then the first step is to view ourselves not as entities distinct and separate from the people we represent, but as a manifestation of them. An incarnation, if you will.

If the conviction of the client is a conviction of the lawyer; if the days spent in jail by the client are days that the lawyer will have to also suffer, then and only then will the interests align. To be sure, there are few who already possess this view. The vast majority do not. To them, the attempt by the convicted client to shave a few years off his sentence, because of something the lawyer missed (or not), or the attempt to seek a new trial or to withdraw the plea of guilty are nothing more and nothing less than personal insults that impugn the reputation of the lawyer who goshdarnit did his best for the cretin that happened to walk through his door.

Us and them. While this divide exists, we cannot truly be counselor and representatives of our clients. We cannot change the system that views “them” differently. We cannot fulfill our duties and responsibilities to ensure that our clients’ rights are paid more than lip service.

This doesn’t happen overnight, there will be no sudden realization. It takes small steps. One lawyer here, one lawyer there who refuses to laugh along with the crowd at the ridicule of the defendant. Two lawyers who recognize the importance and value of The Great Writ, who have the courage to admit their errors even where they may be negligible. To realize that they have the comfort of going to their own homes at night, while the client will suffer in isolation. Whether this be by letting go of our egos as Scott writes or some sort of penalty as Mark considers and rejects or a change in the jurisprudence, it must be done for the sake of the client.

This is not an issue of “just desserts” or blame or punishment. This is about the ability to sleep at night, peacefully, knowing that you have done everything in your power to uphold the awesome responsibility of your profession: speak for another man when no one will.

We fight the institution. Why stop when the client is convicted?

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Effective misadvice is ineffective

Apr 23rd

Posted by Gideon in clients

2 comments

[Or: Leave your ego in law school]

When Ahmed Kenyatta Ebron was told by his lawyer that he should reject the State’s offer and instead plead guilty without an agreement because “he couldn’t do much worse or words to that effect”, he did what all of us usually hope our clients do: take our advice.

At this open plea, armed with the client’s record and an unfavorable pre-sentence investigation report, the judge imposed a sentence of 11 years to serve, 5 more than the State’s offer of 6.

Mr. Ebron, relying on counsel’s advice, is serving 5 more years than he should be. For now, at least. His conviction has been reversed, based on ineffective assistance of counsel, and that reversal has survived the Appellate Court (I’m not optimistic about its chances at the Supreme Court).

The events leading up to Mr. Ebron’s conviction, the habeas itself and the aftermath raise several points.

First, it is easy to forget that at the end of the day, we are in a service industry. As criminal defense lawyers, our job description is limited to the service of another. We are protecting the rights of others, we are helping others make important decisions about their lives and we are, ultimately, representatives of other people.

That this is easy to forget should come as no surprise. Lawyers have famously large egos. But there is a danger in letting the sense of self overwhelm the duty and responsibility that we have.

It is that duty to the client that compels us to treat each case with the attention that we would give to it were we the defendant. There is no greater sin that can be committed by the defense lawyer than misadvising the client.

Clients rely on us to show them the way, to spell out the alternatives and to recommend one over the other, based on our knowledge, skill and experience, keeping their best interests in mind.

It is imperative that we fully inform ourselves of the facts and circumstances of the client’s case and then, and only then, recommend a final course of action.

I am not suggesting that we must force a client to take our advice; the client remains free to make stupid decisions. But the advice that we give clients must be sound. There are some that take the view that our job is to present the alternatives to the client and then accept whatever decision the client makes. I am not of that view. I believe – and certainly I may take some flak for this – that it is our responsibility to do our best to convince the client to choose the course of action that is in his/her best interests, despite the client’s seeming disapproval of that path.

This, however, can only be done if the advice we give is informed. We can only stand behind the advice we give if we are convinced that it is the best alternative and that decision can only be made with a full understanding of all the circumstances and an awareness of the pitfalls of that and every other course of action. If someone else, years down the road, decides that the advice was unreasonable, so be it. No one gets hurt by that and it only helps the client.

Ebron’s lawyer didn’t do that (and to his credit, took responsibility for it). The standard for effective assistance of counsel is woefully low. To scrape by and meet Constitutional scrutiny, a lawyer needn’t do much. But if you’re aiming for the standard, then you’re not really fulfilling your duty. If you truly believe it is sufficient to perform at a minimum level, then there are other areas of law that might be better suited for you. Stop meddling with the liberties and freedoms of fellow men and women.

…

Ineffective assistance of counsel is a sort of “dirty” phrase in the criminal defense world. It is viewed by many as a personal attack and is met with scorn, anger and derision directed toward those who practice in the post-conviction arena. That this view is prevalent among the bar is alarming. It belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the duties and responsibilities of the defense lawyer in the criminal justice system.

IAC claims are not a taint on your reputation nor is it an indictment of your abilities. It is a recognition of the simple fact that we are all working within a juggernaut of a system that from time to time overwhelms even the best of us.

At the end of the day, it is you and I who go home to our comfortable beds. You and I have the ability to walk outside in the free world and to buy what we choose and talk to whom we want, whenever we want. To place our petty egos and some twisted sense of self-worth before the complaints of the convicted client, who has nothing but a badly beaten and bruised writ to use to seek his release from the oppressive conditions of confinement in our penal institutions is pettiness of the ugliest kind.

The local listserve erupted with comments after the release of the Ebron decision: there were voices from both sides – those that praised the decision and those that lamented the additional burdens it seemingly placed on the defense lawyer (based, it seems to me, on a misreading of the case and the responsibilities it underlines).

Why does IAC evoke such polarized reactions among us? Are we that sensitive? Or is it because we view ourselves as separate and distinct from our clients? Do we believe that the players in the criminal justice system are the State, the judge, the defendant and the defense lawyer? If so, that is a terribly misbegotten view.

This may be getting repetitive, but it cannot be said enough that in order to truly serve our clients we must view ourselves as nothing but an extension of the individual client. We must be the client, at every moment that we represent them. We – criminal defense lawyers – are not parties to a criminal case. The client is. We are his representative. We must, at all times, remember that and act like it.

I will not lie to help a client, but I will not add my name to the list of those that violate his Constitutional rights.

The other Michigan bailout

Apr 21st

Posted by Gideon in pd system

2 comments

Much has been written over the last two years or so about bailouts: bailouts of Wall Street, banks and of course the auto-industry, formerly of Detroit, Michigan. This blog has also focused on bailouts, but those of a different kind: the bailouts of public defender systems which are not forthcoming.

As I’ve mentioned before, we are approaching a tipping point in the fight against constitutionally inadequate public defender systems across the country. The ‘sphere has been atwitter over the news that 14 public defenders in Minnesota have filed a labor grievance over excessive caseloads.

Yet the internet has been oddly silent about a battle on another front in nearby Michigan. In 2007, the ACLU of Michigan filed suit against three counties and sought to have their indigent defense systems declared unconstitutional and to have the state provide funding.

On April 14, 2010, the Michigan Supreme Court heard oral argument in an expedited appeal on the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.You can view the oral argument here [and really, even if you ignore this entire post, make sure you watch the oral argument], and the briefs and other related documents are available here.

The oral argument, despite its premature stage, beautifully frames the core issues at play here: can defendants sue the State to ensure that they receive constitutionally adequate representation; whose duty is it to provide that representation; and just how difficult a task is it to prove that there is a systemic 6th Amendment failure?

[The oral argument is also noteworthy for other things, such as the Attorney General's complete butchering of Cronic and the conflation of the Strickland standard with the civil "injury" and of course, the proffer of the idea that any and all 6th Amendment violations can only be asserted after a conviction.]

The idea of a systemic failure, of course, is not difficult to grasp. States that leave the funding to individual local counties are bound to have an indigent defense system that is arbitrary and inconsistent.

It must be the State’s obligation to provide effective assistance of counsel to all defendants at all stages of a criminal proceeding. That is the only way to ensure that Gideon’s mandate is fulfilled.

Whether this lawsuit will achieve that goal remains to be seen. I suspect, however, that the ACLU and those bringing suit have another motive in mind: to force the state to legislate more funding, as has been done in other states and is currently being done in others still.

It seems that the strategy may be paying off already, at least in Michigan.

Going back to what I wrote earlier, it doesn’t matter what the mechanism employed is, as long as states are forced to confront the reality that their public defender systems are woefully inadequate and that the first step to fixing them is greater funding.

The battle has begun, the war will be won.

Skakel loses the battle, but the war looms?

Apr 15th

Posted by Gideon in ct legal news

No comments

In a mind bogglingly long opinion released earlier this week, CT’s Supreme Court upheld the denial of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel‘s motion for new trial. There is a concurrence and a dissent as well.

The decision is long and I don’t care enough to dissect it. Except to state that despite the court shooting down all his claims, there is still hope for Skakel. And that rests entirely on the claim that Mickey Sherman, celebrity lawyer extraordinaire, rendered ineffective assistance of counsel.

Normally, our appellate courts are quick to shoot down future hypothetical claims of ineffective assistance. Not so in this case:

The trial court concluded that efforts to locate the three witnesses prior to and during trial did not satisfy due diligence. The court further concluded that these witnesses could have been located using the same methods that ultimately were used after trial to locate them. Therefore, the court concluded that the evidence was not newly discovered within the meaning of § 52-270. We agree.

It is highly significant that this evidence is not newly discovered in the sense that the petitioner did not know of the existence of these witnesses prior to trial. Coleman had identified these witnesses years before trial. Moreover, the petitioner should have known that Coleman’s testimony, if credited, could be a key piece of evidence in the state’s case.

Sherman apparently concluded, however, that cross-examination of Coleman at trial would be sufficient to discredit him, as he justified his lack of direction to Colucci about locating these witnesses by the fact that he ‘‘didn’t anticipate that . . . Coleman would be dead at the [time of] trial . . . [and] believed that the jury would see [him].’’ Sherman had James’ contact information in the spring of 2002, but could not ‘‘connect’’ with him. No effort was made to locate Simpson or Grubin prior to or during the trial. Therefore, we fully agree with the trial court’s conclusion that Sherman had failed to exercise due diligence to locate the three witnesses.

and:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

We concluded that ‘‘the trial court acted within its discretion in rejecting the [petitioner’s] claim on the ground that the [petitioner] had failed to raise it in a timely manner under Practice Book § 42-54. Even though the [petitioner] became aware of the two reports during trial, he did not raise a Brady challenge to the state’s failure to provide him with the reports until two and one-half months after the five day limitation period [for filing a motion for a new trial under] . . . § 42-54 had expired.’’ (Emphasis added.) Id., 710.

In addition to the aforementioned facts and conclusions set forth in Skakel, the trial court in the present case pointed to the following testimony. Garr had offered testimony to establish that the composite drawing had been in the state’s files, which always were accessible to the petitioner. Sherman admitted that, shortly before trial, Solomon had told him about the profile reports.

Although Sherman had filed a discovery request almost one year before trial, he acknowledged that he had not renewed this discovery request specifically to request the profile reports. In light of this testimony and this court’s conclusions in the petitioner’s previous appeal, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that this evidence was not newly discovered.

and finally:

We are mindful that we have disposed of two of the petitioner’s claims solely on the ground that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the evidence was not newly discovered because the petitioner did not meet his burden of proving that this evidence would not have been available for use at trial if due diligence had been exercised. Because this conclusion is dispositive of those claims; Costello v. Costello, 139 Conn. 690, 695, 96 A.2d 755 (1953); Terracino v. Fairway Asset Management, Inc., supra, 75 Conn. App. 80; we express no opinion on the possible effect that this evidence could have in a new trial.

Undoubtedly, the prerequisites for obtaining a new trial at this stage are stringent. ‘‘This strict standard is meant to effectuate the underlying ‘equitable principle that once a judgment is rendered it is to be considered final,’ and should not be disturbed by posttrial motions except for a compelling reason.’’ Asherman v. State, supra, 202 Conn. 434. To the extent, however, that the petitioner believes that this evidence would have changed the outcome of his trial, habeas relief is the appropriate avenue to pursue such a claim.

Now that kind of language is certainly unprecedented. If the Court didn’t believe that the evidence would, indeed, have an effect on the outcome of the trial, it would likely have reached the issue and said so, like it does in every other damn case not involving a famous person other cases.

So the question becomes: what will Mickey Sherman do? What will a habeas court do? That’s where the real fight is, in my opinion. Expect long hearings, big pronouncements and pointed and repeated references to this decision of Skakel v. State. If, as the court seems to suggest, the fault lies with Sherman, then how difficult will it be to deny relief on ineffective assistance grounds? And then there’s that matter of the odd filing of the federal habeas. I still don’t know why that occurred.

Ultimately, though, Skakel might have the luxury of fighting the conviction “from the outside”. Because of good time laws in effect at the time of the offense, he’s eligible for parole in a few years.

Whether he is innocent or guilty, the Skakel case has already resulted in two tragedies: the death of Martha Moxley and the abomination that is the Supreme Court’s decision on direct appeal, affirming his conviction in State v. Skakel [oddly, the author of State v. Skakel, Justice Palmer, is the lone dissenter in Skakel v. State]. I’ve never seen such judicial gymnastics. If you get me drunk enough, I’ll tell you why.

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michael skakel

Equal justice for all

Feb 15th

Posted by Gideon in pd system

6 comments

On a cold day in January, 1963, 9 men sat atop a perch and listened, for hours, to three other men argue for and against the means to dispense equal justice for all citizens of these United States. A short two months later, in March, Gideon v. Wainwright was born, mandating that States were required to provide attorneys for those who could not afford them to assist with the defense of criminal accusations.

At the time of the decision, public defender systems and counsel for the indigent wasn’t a novel concept: almost 45 states already had either full-fledged public defender systems or court rules that provided for the appointment of counsel. Gideon just provided a Constitutional basis for the widespread notion that all defendants should have access to counsel, in spite of their financial abilities.

Of course, the application of Gideon has been uneven over the years. Some states have strong public defender systems and some provide counsel in a piecemeal, arbitrary and haphazard manner. Much has been written, and continues to be written, about the state of indigent defense.

Without adequate funding, the reality of Gideon‘s promise will fall far short of the ideal. Of course, public defenders aren’t the only players in the game: there is the private defense attorney, who existed long before Gideon provided a way for me to have a job. People with some income are free to hire such an attorney and will always continue to be so.

A new idea has been tossed around these parts (and by that I mean the blawgosphere) over the past few days: that perhaps the best way to ensure equal justice, and for defendants to stand on equal footing with the frightening power of the States, is to have a universal public defender system. “Lawyers for all” is the call, and at first blush it seems like a good idea.

State legislatures these days have criminalized all human actions but breathing. If they are so inclined, goes the argument, then they must also be forced to provide the resources to defend against the zealous overprosecutions. Why must the defendant be left to his own devices and his own resources, when the State has its entire treasury at its disposal? Even the footing, goes the argument, and more prosecutions will fall by the wayside. Perhaps, if they are forced to provide the same resources to both sides, the staggering costs along with the piling “losses” for the State will knock some sense into the “tough on crime” legislators and force a rethinking of the penal code.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

It is a fine idea and one that I stand behind in principle. But I’m not entirely sure what “universal public defenders” actually means. Scott raises the concern that to conscript all criminal defense lawyers into this army would be to place the power of defense in the hands of the State, and the resources at their whim and fancy. 9 different men and women may one day decide that the 6th Amendment never did mean all defendants. And then what?

If the criminal defense bar becomes dependent on the government for its livelihood, we likewise become dependent on the government for our existence. One day, somebody gets it into their heads that they don’t like us anymore and, poof, we’re done. One bad Supreme Court decision and Gideon is toast. A vital private bar, beyond the reach of the government, must continue to exist if we’re going to be positioned to fight for the accused. If our children’s next meal depends on government largesse, we have sold our independence for good. We’re just another cog in the government wheel.

Put us on the government payroll and we work for the Man. Do we really want to serve the Man? Not me. I serve my client, no one else.

In response to Scott, Norm Pattis of the one-man-army-on-revolutionary-ideas further explains the concept of the UPD:

Having a unviersal public defender service does not mean conscripting all members of the bar and making them government employees. It means that all members of the bar can apply to be appointed off a list of qualified defenders. It also means that making your way onto that list, and remaining there, requires demonstrating minimal competence in the difficult work of defending the accused.

Not all lawyers will seek such appointment. Those who don’t want strings attached to what they do can compete for the private dollars swirling in the wake of the arrests of the affluent. But the middle class, those folks not indigent but without the means to hire a full defense team, won’t be facing the resources of the state armed only with the wits of the lawyer they could afford.

And so we come to the crux of it and thus to a tune that I have long trumpeted (GET IT!?). There are three classes of criminal defendants: the very poor, the rich and those in between. The first two we need not worry about: they will always have counsel and will always have the resources to fight their prosecutions. Indeed, the concept of the ‘UPD’ already does exist in some form. First, there is the public defender system for those who are “indigent”. For the overflow cases, i.e. the cases above and beyond that which the normal person can and should handle, there is the conflict attorney or special public defender (or your local variation thereon). This covers a very, very large percentage of the criminal docket. For example, here in CT, the latest statistics show that the public defender system will represent over 80% of the criminal defendants in the State.

We are fortunate enough to have vast resources at our disposal. I need an expert? I got an expert. I need to send my investigator to Florida to contact a witness? The investigator is on a plane/train/automobile. The same applies to our Special Public Defenders, although it may take slightly longer.

Then we have the really rich. They hire private counsel, have some sums of money at their disposal and can generally adequately fund their own defense. And what if they no longer have any money? Well, there’s a mechanism to provide the tools of their defense there too. Ake v. Oklahoma provides for the State to pay for the necessary tools to conduct a defense, if someone who wasn’t indigent at the time of the institution of the prosecution now becomes indigent. Mr. Rich Client has burned through the sums of money in his bank account and has already mortgaged his house and yet needs to hire the forensic expert? The State will pay for it.

Which brings us to the one category that would really benefit from some modification of the public defender system: the poor-by-everyone-elses-standards-but-not-poor-enough-to-get-a-pd.

This is the class of defendants who make a little too much to fall below the artificially low income threshold and don’t make nearly enough to realistically hire a lawyer and fund the tools of an adequate defense. It is these people that we need to be worried about. Several times have I expressed disgust at the indigency cutoff and the arbitrary enforcement of these “guidelines”. What might get you counsel in one court, county or state may not get you counsel in another. There needs to be an honest and serious rethinking of the guidelines.

[Second thought: this also raises the uncomfortable specter of the private attorney who charges very little to get this business and the attendant problems. Now, I've never had to quote a price for a case and I hope never to have to do that. I don't know how all private lawyers operate, but it would seem that, given the glut of lawyers, there is a fair percentage that will take cases for the lowest possible fee and provide proportional representation. Do these lawyers know of Ake? Do they care? Does that defendant get equal justice? This, of course, is a very touchy issue with the private bar, just as the "overworked and underqualified" public defender is a touchy issue with me. But the reality is that there are attorneys on both sides of the money divide who are half-assing it for various reasons.]

Perhaps that is what is meant by a universal public defender system. Income eligibility should not be determined by gross income, but rather by disposable income. People should not be asked to make the difficult choices of paying for insurance, rent and utilities at the expense of hiring a lawyer. That is the unacceptable reality of the public defender system today.

Increase the guidelines, thus making more people eligible for public defenders. All but the very rich should have access to our services. And the very rich, if they were to ever run out of money, should also have the ability to have the State pay for their defense. And it has indeed happened: private counsel file motions seeking to be appointed as special public defenders once the client runs out of money and work still needs to be done.

I realize that I write this from a State of relative comfort. In CT, we get most of the funding we seek and we are rarely ever left wanting. I could not name a single case where I needed to do something for the defense and was unable to pay for it. Other states, I know, are far worse. But a universal public defender system without the funding is no different from what we have today.

And if there is greater funding, then the problems that currently exist no longer are a concern.

So the question, then, is: how do we get states to adequately fund the defense of criminal prosecutions? That requires a shift in thinking.

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To have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence

Feb 2nd

Posted by Gideon in pd system

1 comment

Clarence Earl Gideon, we salute you. On the first go around, sans counsel:

and after the landmark decision:

HT: Tannebaum

Face-to-ski mask: a defendant’s right to confront his cat burglar

Nov 23rd

Posted by Gideon in cops

2 comments

Do you feel lucky?

I’m not quite sure how to introduce this story (and the case that it covers) in a pithy manner, so I’m just going to get to it: New Hampshire’s Supreme Court recently ruled that it’s okay for a police officer to testify at a criminal trial while wearing a ski-mask to protect his identity because he was working in an undercover unit at the time of the trial.

Yes, you read that right. In State of New Hampshire v. Jose Hernandez, a police officer who had conducted an interview with the complaining witness was permitted to sit there like a cat burglar, with a ski mask on his face. The State’s reasoning – bought by the trial court – was that the officer’s identity needed to be protected. Nevermind the fact that the jury viewed the interview with the complainant in which his face was uncovered and that everyone knew his name. Oh and that pesky Confrontation Clause thing.

Let’s look at that. The Confrontation Clause provides that:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to [...] be confronted with the witnesses against him.

Federal court decisions have interpreted this to mean eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. The confrontation clause affords the criminal defendant two types of protections: “the right physically to face those who testify against him, and the right to conduct cross-examination.” Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39 (1987). And there’s a reason for this. The accuser, or any other witnesses on the accusers behalf, should have to face not only the defendant, but the jury that is deciding the defendant’s fate. The jury should have the opportunity to observe the witness and the witnesses reactions and demeanor.

The Connecticut Supreme Court has not yet considered (that I could find) whether a witness testifying in disguise violates the Confrontation Clause. It has, however, considered whether an accuser can testify outside the presence of the defendant and not in court. In State v. Jarzbek, the Court permitted the videotaping of a minor who had accused the defendant of sexual abuse. While the court in Jarzbek ultimately permitted the introduction of videotaped testimony instead of live testimony at the trial, the jury had the opportunity to observe the demeanor of the complainant. Jarzbek, however, emphasized the importance of having the ability to look the accuser (or by extrapolation a witness) in the eye and having that witness face the jury:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

As the United States Supreme Court has asserted, a defendant’s “literal right to `confront’ the witness at the time of trial … forms the core of the values furthered by the Confrontation Clause.” California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 157 (1970); Delaware v. Fensterer, supra; Davis v. Alaska, supra, 315; Dowdell v. United States, 221 U.S. 325, 330 (1911). The clause was originally conceived as a safeguard “to prevent depositions or ex parte affidavits … being used against the prisoner in lieu of a personal examination and cross-examination of the witness in which the accused has an opportunity, not only of testing the recollection and sifting the conscience of the witness, but of compelling him to stand face to face with the jury in order that they may look at him, and judge by his demeanor upon the stand and the manner in which he gives his testimony whether he is worthy of belief.” Mattox v. United States, 156 U.S. 237, 242-43 (1895); see also 5 J. Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed. 1940) §§ 1365, 1367.

The court, in a subsequent case analyzing Jarzbek, engages in a thoughtful analysis of the Confrontation Clause and the need for the jury to be able to observe a witness:

Our law is well settled that it is a jury’s duty to determine the credibility of witnesses and to do so by observing firsthand their conduct, demeanor and attitude. See, e.g., State v. Morgan, 274 Conn. 790, 800 (2005). Some of our older cases indicate that fact finders properly may consider not only a witness’ demeanor during his testimony but also his spontaneous reactions in the courtroom, as a whole, provided these considerations are limited to assessing credibility. See Kovacs v. Szentes, 130 Conn. 229, 233 (1943); State v. McLaughlin, 126 Conn. 257, 264-65 (1939). A jury’s assessment of a witness’ credibility also naturally and rightly may include observations of his reaction to having to confront the defendant physically and to testify in an open and public forum. See State v. Jarzbek, supra, 204 Conn. 683, 692-93 (1987) (confrontation clause “finds its modern justification in the perceived role that physical confrontation plays in the truth-seeking process”), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1061 (1988). We have observed that the confrontation clause was conceived as a means of providing the accused with “an opportunity, not only of testing the recollection and sifting the conscience of the witness, but of compelling him to stand face to face with the jury in order that they may look at him, and judge by his demeanor upon the stand and the manner in which he gives his testimony whether he is worthy of belief.” (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 692. Therefore, we conclude that, to the extent that the jurors formed opinions as to Ford’s credibility by observing his demeanor on the stand and his spontaneous reactions in the courtroom, they acted properly. Such observations and the rational inferences drawn therefrom are not prejudicial. See State v. Porter, 241 Conn. 57, 120 (1997) (“forming impressions and intuitions regarding witnesses is the quintessential jury function”), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1058, (1998).

The court, however, has applied the rationale of permitting unmasked out-of-court testimony to cases of sexual abuse of minors and only on the rationale that the State has a compelling interest in protecting child victims and encouraging their participation in the criminal justice system. Even then, it is a determination to be made on a case-by-case basis. The New Hampshire Supreme Court in Hernandez seems to buy into a similar compelling need to protect the identity of undercover officers, but in my opinion, at the grave expense of the Confrontation Right. That court relies on Coy v. Iowa and Maryland v. Craig and crafts another case-by-case test for permitting witnesses to testify in disguise. But Coy dealt specifically with the defendant’s absence from the presence of the accuser and again in a child-sex case. The Supreme Court in Craig did hold that the right to face-to-face confrontation was not indispensable and that the requirements of the Confrontation Clause:

may be satisfied absent a physical, face-to-face confrontation at trial only where denial of such confrontation is necessary to further an important public policy and only where the reliability of the testimony is otherwise assured.

In doing so, according to the NH Supreme Court, the Craig court focused on four factors:

(1) physical presence; (2) oath; (3) cross-examination; and (4) observation of demeanor by the court, defendant and trier of fact.

In holding that permitting the police officer to testify in disguise constituted harmless error in this case, but may be permitted in other cases, the NH court seems to explicitly ignore (4) above. Who knows if the detective is smirking under that ski-mask, knowing that he’s lying through his teeth and the jury is unable to observe that. Again, it is important to note that Craig again dealt with the physical presence of a defendant and the impact and trauma that might have on a child victim. None of these cases speak to permitting a witness to testify, in court, with his or her face hidden.

Given my reading of Jarzbek, Coy and Craig, I think the Connecticut Supreme Court would be hard pressed to agree with New Hampshire’s august tribunal, but I’m usually wrong when it comes to things like this.

Two side notes: The newspaper story covering the NH decision includes the usual quotes from law enforcement about how the primary focus should be the safety of the officers, not the Constitutional rights of an accused. So make sure you read it if you want to get all indignant.

Second, the dissent by Scalia in Craig is certainly worth the time it would take to read it. Here’s a sampling:

According to the Court, “we cannot say that [face-to-face] confrontation [with witnesses appearing at trial] is an indispensable element of the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to confront one’s accusers.” Ante, at 849-850. That is rather like saying “we cannot say that being tried before a jury is an indispensable element of the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to jury trial.” The Court makes the impossible plausible by recharacterizing the Confrontation Clause, so that confrontation (redesignated “face-to-face confrontation”) becomes only one of many “elements of confrontation.” Ante, at 846. The reasoning is as follows: The Confrontation Clause guarantees not only what it explicitly provides for — “face-to-face” confrontation—but also implied and collateral rights such as cross-examination, oath, and observation of demeanor (TRUE); the purpose of this entire cluster of rights is to ensure the reliability of evidence (TRUE); the Maryland procedure preserves the implied and collateral rights (TRUE), which adequately ensure the reliability of evidence (perhaps TRUE); therefore the Confrontation Clause is not violated by denying what it explicitly provides for — “face-to-face” confrontation (unquestionably FALSE). This reasoning abstracts from the right to its purposes, and then eliminates the right. It is wrong because the Confrontation Clause does not guarantee reliable evidence; it guarantees specific trial procedures that were thought to assure reliable evidence, undeniably among which was “face-to-face” confrontation. Whatever else it may mean in addition, the defendant’s constitutional right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him” means, always and everywhere, at least what it explicitly says: the “`right to meet face to face all those who appear and give evidence at trial.’”

Sometimes, he’s so good that it hurts.

According to the Court, “we cannot say that [face-to-face] confrontation [with witnesses appearing at trial] is an indispensable element of the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to confront one’s accusers.” Ante, at 849-850. That is rather like saying “we cannot say that being tried before a jury is an indispensable element of the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to jury trial.” The Court makes the impossible plausible by recharacterizing the Confrontation Clause, so that confrontation (redesignated “face-to-face confrontation”) becomes only one of many “elements of confrontation.” Ante, at 846. The reasoning is as follows: The Confrontation Clause guarantees not only what it explicitly provides for — “face-to-face” confrontation—but also implied and collateral rights such as cross-examination, oath, and observation of demeanor (TRUE); the purpose of this entire cluster of rights is to ensure the reliability of evidence (TRUE); the Maryland procedure preserves the implied and collateral rights (TRUE), which adequately ensure the reliability of evidence (perhaps TRUE); therefore the Confrontation Clause is not violated by denying what it explicitly provides for — “face-to-face” confrontation (unquestionably FALSE). This reasoning abstracts from the right to its purposes, and then eliminates the right. It is wrong because the Confrontation Clause does not guarantee reliable evidence; it guarantees specific trial procedures that were thought to assure reliable evidence, undeniably among which was “face-to-face” confrontation. Whatever else it may mean in addition, the defendant’s constitutional right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him” means, always and everywhere, at least what it explicitly says: the “`right to meet face to face all those who appear and give evidence at trial.’”

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Might OJ Simpson have a Sanders claim?

Dec 8th

Posted by Gideon in clients

11 comments

how did I end up back here?

One interesting piece of information in this OJ Simpson brouhaha is the revelation that he may have rejected a plea offer for a sentence as low as 3 years. The first word came from a friend of The Juice and it was later confirmed by his lawyer.

Sanders, in the post title, refers to a CT Superior Court decision: Sanders v. Warden¹. Obviously, OJ wouldn’t get the benefit of this particular case, because, as much as Mohegan Sun wants it to be, this is not Vegas. The principle Sanders stands for is borrowed from a 1996 Second Circuit decision: Boria v. Keane.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

The essence is this: A lawyer must meaningfully convey a plea offer to the client and must explain the consequences and ramifications of taking the offer and rejecting it.

Plain English: Make absolutely damn sure that your client knows every reason for and against taking the offer. Double check it. Triple check it. Write him a letter and then another. Try talking to him at night. Talk to him in the morning. Leave absolutely no doubt in your mind that the client fully understands the consequences of rejecting an offer.

In both Sanders and Boria, the Courts ordered that the defendant be permitted to accept the previously rejected plea offer because, in both cases, the offers were not meaningfully explained. [All right, so in Boria the Court ordered him released because accepting the prior offer wouldn't have meant squat.]

The Court in Boria explored the underpinnings of this principle:

The decision whether to plead guilty or contest a criminal charge is ordinarily the most important single decision in any criminal case. This decision must ultimately be left to the client’s wishes. Counsel cannot plead a client guilty, or not guilty, against the client’s will. But counsel may and must give the client the benefit of counsel’s professional advice on this crucial decision.

Quoting Anthony G. Amsterdam, in Trial Manual 5 for the Defense of Criminal (1988)§ 201 at 339. Indeed, SCOTUS has said something similar:

Of course, it is not for a lawyer to fabricate defenses, but he does have an affirmative obligation to make suitable inquiry to determine whether valid ones exist. Such a duty is imposed for the salutary reason that ‘prior to trial an accused is entitled to rely upon his counsel to make an independent examination of the facts, circumstances, pleadings and laws involved and then to offer his informed opinion as to what plea should be entered.’

Von Moltke v. Gillies, 332 U.S. 708, 721 (1948). That counsel is you.

This is prudent for several reasons. First, it is your duty to do so. Your primary and only responsibility is to the client and the client’s interests. Explaining thoroughly the consequences of rejecting an offer will reassure you and the client that the decision the client is making is a voluntary, informed one. Let’s be honest, any pre-trial offer will usually be significantly lower than any sentence imposed after trial. Frankly, why would you want it any other way?

This also ensures that your client receives the Constitutionally mandated effective assistance of counsel and doesn’t end up doing something stupid, like going to trial when he had no business to do so, just because you believed your duty was not to tell the client what to do.

You’re correct. It isn’t your job to tell the client what to do. It is your job (and mine) to give the client all the tools the client needs in order to make a very informed decision. Clients sometimes labor under the misimpression that they are innocent or that the State doesn’t have enough to convict them. It is our job to explain the State’s evidence in realistic terms, not idealistic terms:

“Sure, it would be nice if the State could produce Witness F, but they don’t need Witness F.”

“Juries don’t like to see these types of crimes, or someone with your record.”

“The only way to defend this is for you to testify, and frankly my dear, you’ll do that over my lifeless carcass.”

Don’t half-ass it. Explain to the client everything you’d be considering if it was you making that decision.

So what about OJ?

The fallen idol’s pal Thomas Scotto said prosecutors made the offer in the last stages of his trial for armed robbery.

But Scotto added: “OJ and his sister told me the prosecution offered him a deal but he and his lawyers turned it down.”

Scotto said that Simpson had been adamant he would not serve time and made that point clear to his lawyers.

He added: “He may have given it more serious consideration if he’d known what was coming.”

The offers were confirmed by Simpson’s lawyer Yale Galanter.

He said: “There were ongoing discussions throughout the case but nothing came of them.

“If he’d known what was coming” may mean several things. It may mean “in hindsight” or it may mean “if he’d been told how realistic it was that he’d be convicted”. Really, how many of you thought he was walking out of that courtroom without a single conviction?

This is one of the things I’m confident that most of you don’t do. I’m still writing about it because it interests me and because I’ve heard stories. Oh yeah. I’ve heard things.

Some clients have odd notions of justice and what is right and wrong in their case. It is our job to bring them back to Earth.

[Please don't misconstrue this post as advocating coercing the client to plead. That's just dumb.]

1. 2003 Conn. Super. LEXIS 174

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Selection, naturally

Dec 6th

Posted by Gideon in judges

5 comments

to vote or not to vote

What has always struck me as rather curious about the various jurisdictions in the US is their disparate ways of employing judges and state’s attorneys and public defenders. Some states elect their officials, some states select them.

In Connectictut, I guess one could say that the state’s attorneys, public defenders and judges are akin to civil servants. It is, fundamentally, a merit-based system, where you are appointed and then promoted based on your abilites and performance. Not all states do it this way and I wonder why. Two recent stories would highlight my query:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

First, in Texas, where Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer, aka Mark Bennett is covering the election of Pat Lykos as DA, and the impact it has had on attorneys in the prosecutor’s office (for a first hand take, see AHCL’s posts here and here). After promising not to fire anyone who worked hard and was competent, she promptly fired everyone (or close to it).

The other cautionary tale is from Florida, which I mentioned in the Jumpstart on Monday. This one is a little more puzzling. Bill White, a public defender for 34 years was defeated in the election by Matt Shirk, an attorney who spent 5 years in the public defender’s office and 4 years in private practice. He was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of the Police and, by some accounts, promised not to raise questions about the integrity of the police and their work. He also stated:

he has no intentions of making sweeping personnel changes to the office of 140 employees, but plans to put his own management team in place.

And then he promptly fired the 10 most experienced attorneys in that office. Two of those 10 are Pat McGuiness and Ann Finnel, both of whom represented Brenton Butler in an infamous murder case in 2000, that resulted in Butler’s acquittal. Both McGuiness and Finnel were simultaneously featured in an Oscar winning documentary about Butler’s case. [CT pd, you should remember this documentary and remember McGuiness. He spoke at a seminar once and the documentary was screened at the Mystic annual meeting. If you, like me, slept through it, then go rent it and watch it now.]

McGuiness believes the firings are payback:

“There are very few people who would have acted as divisively as Mr. Shirk in term of ridding the office of skill and experience without interviewing a single attorney or looking at a single personnel file,” McGuiness said.

The mass firing occurred eight years to the day of when Butler was found not guilty after McGuiness and other attorneys who were recently fired proved the sheriff’s department bungled the case.

McGuiness said the firings are payback.

McGuiness, Finnel and others fired are considering legal action. I know nothing about employment law, so maybe someone who does can chime in.

Given all of this (and this surely isn’t the first time something of this nature has occured), I wonder why states continue to elect their judges and other officials, who really should be civil servants. It creates an odd power game, where being a judge isn’t in the highest strata – it is being a public defender. Whether it is in Texas or FL or on Raising the Bar, you routinely read the resumes of district attorneys and see “former Judge” in them. We have this system backwards, don’t we? Do judges aspire to be prosecutors? I thought it was the other way round.

As Bobby G put it:

given the public’s abhorrence for and general misunderstanding of criminal defense and why we need it, public elections could be a recipe for disaster. Imagine if a candidate for office runs on a campaign of being tough on crime, easy on cops, and easy on the public dime (what the public wants to hear) and then they are elected?

That’s exactly what happened. Judges and public defenders should be beholden to no one except the law and their clients, respectively. Prosecutors, I think, should also be free from the encumberances of public pressure. Because almost always, public pressure veers prosecutors away from discretion and toward draconian and harsh punishments. In the very few cases that the public feels prosecutors are being unjust and unfair, they have the opportunity to rectify that: the jury.

Can anyone make a convincing argument for election?

*Image taken shamelessly from this year’s Senate race in MN between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. Via MPR.

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Are an informant’s questions testimonial?

Nov 21st

Posted by Gideon in ct legal news

No comments

A co-conspirator is in jail. The police send in a confidential informant, wired, to talk to the co-conspirator. The informant asks the co-conspirator questions about the crime, prodding him, making assertive statements which elicit mono-syllabic responses from the subject.

The State attempts to use the transcription of the tape of that conversation as evidence against the defendant. Clearly, the co-conspirator had no idea that he was talking to someone acting for law enforcement or that his words would be used at trial. The question, though, is whether the informant’s questions testimonial under Crawford and thus inadmissible?

The CT Supreme Court recently faced this question in State v. Smith [pdf]. The Court notes:

In the present case, we view Williams’ recorded statements as falling into three separate categories: (1) nonassertive vocalizations, e.g., ‘‘mm-hmm’’ or ‘‘yeah’’; (2) questions Williams directly posed to Estrella about the crime; and (3) statements Williams made that directly implicated Estrella or the defendant in the commission of the crime.

The Court is quick to decide that the first category is non-testimonial. Deciding whether those that fall into the second category is a matter of context, the Court writes. Despite some leading questions, the Court finds that most of those questions about the crime were to provide context to other questions and were not assertions of fact.

In addressing the final category, the Court finds that the informant was clearly aware that this entire conversation was being taped with an eye to a prosecution. In fact, it was the informant who approached the authorities to obtain favor in his cases. The Court does not hesitate in finding those statements testimonial and since the informant was unavailable at trial, a violation of his Confrontation Clause right.

The defendant still lost on appeal, however, due to our good friend Harmless Error. The Court finds that the informants assertive statements were merely cumulative.

Still, it’s a good start and something to keep in mind in future cases. Where the transcript of any such conversation between the defendant and an informant is dominated by the informant, the CT Supreme Court can be fairly said to have ruled that those statements are testimonial.

Confronting swastikas

Nov 20th

Posted by Gideon in evidence

1 comment

You represent a man who belongs to an ethnic minority, charged with shooting a weapon illegally. The state’s main witness is his acquaintance, a caucasian male. He gives some damning and incrimination testimony. Then you notice tatoos on his arm. Swastikas. Do you cross-examine about any bias he might harbor toward a man of color?

That’s pretty close to the scenario that unfolded in U.S. v. Figueroa, in which the Second Circuit recently ruled that it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to bar such cross-examination.

Judge Sack writing for a panel of the Second decided:

Inasmuch as the tattoos suggested that Wright harbored animus against racial or ethic minority groups and their members, they were relevant to and probative of Wright’s credibility, bias and a motive to lie when testifying against Figueroa

…

The fact that a witness customarily carries or displays a swastika, as a tattoo or otherwise, therefore would tend to suggest that he or she holds racial, religious or ethnic prejudices. That in turn suggests a basis on which the jury could find the witness’s testimony not credible.

It makes sense. The point of questioning the witnesses affiliation with any white supremacist groups is precisely to determine whether he had any motivation for fabricating his testimony. A lot of people who sport swastika tattoos make no bones (hah) about the fact that they consider themselves racially superior to others. And when you harbor such deep bias against another person on the basis of their skin color, it is a fair question whether that in of itself is sufficient to render the testimony incredible.

So why is there not a more excited tone in this post? Because the Second Circuit eventually ruled that it was harmless error. D’oh!

[The swastika, incidentally, has a long history that is not all Nazi-related. In some cultures, it is a revered symbol, which signifies good, as opposed to evil.]

photo credit: Mez Love

Gideon’s promise: Determining who benefits

Sep 16th

Posted by Gideon in criminal law principles

1 comment

Gideon made his promise a long time ago and States began providing indigent defendants with counsel in criminal cases. Much has been said over the years about the promise being fulfilled and states not providing counsel, but the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law tackles the flip side of the problem in a new report [pdf]: just who is eligible for counsel?

The report examines guidelines across the nation and determines that there is no one consistent standard for determining eligibility. People who really should get counsel don’t and people who shouldn’t, do. SCOTUS has never defined what the eligibility standards should be, so States have been free to set their own. I know CT follows the Federal Poverty Guidelines, but other states do not. Some states disqualify defendants if they own a home or a car. Given the cost of private counsel, it may not be feasible for even people with “equity” to hire their own attorneys. This results in them either hiring bad lawyers or representing themselves and taking bad deals.

The report makes several recommendations and offers guidelines for eligibility determination:

Screen people seeking the appointment of counsel to ensure that they are financially eligible.
Apply screening criteria and processes uniformly, and commit them to writing.
Ensure that screening is performed by someone who does not have a conflict of interest.
Ensure that counsel is provided to those unable to afford it.
Streamline screening to speed up the process and save money.
Ensure that required procedural protections are in place.

The third recommendation above is the product of some interesting findings. For example, in some jurisdictions, prosecutors make the initial eligibility determination. (!) In other jurisdictions, they can challenge a determination of eligibility.

The report also suggests that it is unethical for the public defender’s office itself to make eligibility determinations, because it creates a conflict of interest.

Defenders’ personal interests come into play in several ways when they are asked to screen their own clients. For example, in order to provide adequate representation to their clients, public defenders must maintain manageable caseloads. For salaried defenders, and defenders with a contract to represent all defendants in a given geographic area, this may create an incentive to conclude that potential clients are ineligible for representation. Thus, an assistant public defender in Schuyler County, New York, told investigators from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund “that he uses eligibility requirements to limit the number of clients he will represent.” Defenders may also have an incentive to reject cases that are time-intensive, controversial, or undesirable in some other way. The Schuyler County defender exemplifies this risk, too – he reported “telling eligible defendants that if they are willing to work out a deal with the DA that day, he will represent them.”

This is interesting and I’m not sure I agree. In CT, usually it is the investigator from the public defender’s office who does the intake and determines eligibility. This job is also charged to the public defender’s office by statute. I’ll have to give this conflict angle more thought.

The report does recommend, however, that if public defenders are making eligibility determinations, such determination not be made by the attorney who will represent the client.

Overall, I think these are good recommendations and my experience in CT has been that we err on the side of caution and try to represent as many clients as possible. It’s not like this will get any easier. According to a new report, prosecutions are up.

What’s your experience in other states?

sixth amendment

That bus is not for your client

Preempting Strickland

The defendant’s right to trial by jury

Institutional coddling

Effective misadvice is ineffective

The other Michigan bailout

Skakel loses the battle, but the war looms?

Equal justice for all

To have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence

Face-to-ski mask: a defendant’s right to confront his cat burglar

Might OJ Simpson have a Sanders claim?

Selection, naturally

Are an informant’s questions testimonial?

Confronting swastikas

Gideon’s promise: Determining who benefits

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