Misdemeanor Defendants Facing Jail Time Not Told They Have A Right To Counsel, Bar Association Finds

[turbinetree]

Source: National Memo

Reprinted with permission from ProPublica.

The defendants were booked, photographed, fingerprinted and then led into Court 1A in the county courthouse in Nashville. There was no judge. Prosecutors handling the misdemeanor cases invited the accused who were interested in pleading guilty to step forward and finalized plea deals for suspended sentences and an array of fines. There were no defense lawyers, nor were any of the defendants advised they were entitled to one.

Later that day in September 2016, a group of five defendants was called up by a local prosecutor and offered the previously arranged plea deals, some of which might have resulted in days behind bars. One defendant asked to see a judge. The prosecutor said that was not possible, and that her only choice at that moment was to plead guilty, or to plead not guilty and go to trial. The defendant could only speak to the judge, the prosecutor said, if she rejected the plea offer. Again, none of the defendants was told they had the right to see a lawyer before entering any plea.

Read more: http://www.nationalmemo.com/misdemeanor-defendants-facing-jail-time-not-told-right-counsel-bar-association-finds/

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Where the hell is due process in this country.................apparently not in this court

[Shrike47]

1. The article is very disturbing. Rights are being violated continuously. Appalling.

[elleng]

2. ''The ABA report said the lack of counsel for defendants facing misdemeanor charges

punishable with time behind bars is “an extremely serious and pervasive problem that can no longer be ignored or tolerated.”

The report points to a number of studies in recent years that had begun to better document the problem, including work the ABA had done in several states in 2006. “There is a shocking disconnect between the system of justice envisioned by the Supreme Court’s right-to-counsel decisions and what actually occurs in many of this nation’s misdemeanor courts,” it says.

The report cites two Supreme Court decisions in establishing that many of those charged with misdemeanors are entitled to a lawyer. A 1972 case said that such lawyers were required even in misdemeanor cases, absent a “valid waiver of counsel” by the defendant. Thirty years later, the report stated, the court made clear that defendants being offered suspended sentences — deals that spare defendants immediate imprisonment so long as they meet certain conditions — were also due representation by a lawyer.'>>>

[TeamPooka]

3. America is slipping away, right through our fingers.

[Stuart G]

4. Nashville Tenn...September 2016..very sad..

key sentence.....

Again, none of the defendants was told they had the right to see a lawyer before entering any plea.