Affording an attorney...

[Bill Stewart]

At 06:32 PM 04/04/2001 -0500, Jim Choate wrote:

>Note that there's NO stipulation about 'if you can't afford an attorney
>one will be appointed to you'. Whether you're rich or poor the state is
>OBLIGED to provide you an attorney.
>
>                                 Amendment VI
>
>In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy
>and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the
>crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously
>ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
>accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have
>compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the
>Assistance of Counsel for his defence.


There's not only no stipulation about whether you can afford counsel,
there's no stipulation about the government paying for counsel,
or about counsel having to be a licensed or trained attorney.
It only says you're allowed to HAVE counsel.

The business about the government paying for an attorney for you
is based on the Supreme Court's *interpretation* of this amendment
concluding that the right to bring counsel with you is pretty lame
if you can't afford to pay counsel, and that therefore the government
ought to pay for counsel for the indigent.

There's also no right to insist that the government provide you with
*good* counsel - public defenders have a reputation of providing
service quality similar to government-funded health care,
at best idealistic until they get too jaded, but the competent ones
are overworked to the point that you still don't get great support.
If you want to argue about assistance of counsel in cases like Jim Bell's,
you're better off trying to argue that counsel should "assist",
not "hinder", and that people who don't want the negative assistance of
counsel that doesn't do what they want should be allowed to dump their PD,
not be told that only the PD and not they themselves have the right to speak.
(A quick read of Declan's description of one day of the trial sounded
like Bell's counsel was trying to help, perhaps competently,
and helping Bell is a tough job for anybody....)