As a Contra Costa County jury watched, an Oakland man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend attacks his lawyer with a pen and tries to attack a prosecutor.
IANAL, but: It circles back to the right to fair representation.
Say he’s convicted, but at a later court, claims “After my totally involuntary psychotic episode, now verified by multiple behavioral psychologists, my lawyer held my unintentional actions against me and did a demonstrably poor job in the remainder of the case. I deserve the right to a fair trial.”
That COULD be enough to get the case declared a mistrial and re-scheduled.
But there’s also a billion reasons you can make an appeal. Most of which have nothing to do with that. Also, being able to make an appeal is a low bar. Most criminal convictions can be appealed…the chance of that appeal overturning the conviction remains low.
There could be issues with witnesses or evidence that wasn’t handled properly. The attorney could point out all of those flaws in order to best defend their client. That of course would leave the defendant with nothing to try to apply with. A less thorough attorney might not find those issues.
Many defense attorneys aren’t there to get their clients out of trouble, especially in high profile cases, they exist to make sure that the law is applied fairly.
Do stand by what you said about defense attorneys not “there to get their clients out of trouble?”
You’re really arguing that a defense attorney’s job isn’t to get their client out of trouble (or in other words, defend them)? Do you realize how ridiculous that is?
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Are you suggesting that he’ll purposely do a bad job? That sort of thing could get him disbarred.
No, he’ll defend it fully to his duty so that the defendant can’t claim lawyer incompetence.
Sorry, I’m not following. You mean the defendant is fucked and his lawyer he stabbed will try to get revenge on him?
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This is complete nonsense.
IANAL, but: It circles back to the right to fair representation.
Say he’s convicted, but at a later court, claims “After my totally involuntary psychotic episode, now verified by multiple behavioral psychologists, my lawyer held my unintentional actions against me and did a demonstrably poor job in the remainder of the case. I deserve the right to a fair trial.”
That COULD be enough to get the case declared a mistrial and re-scheduled.
But there’s also a billion reasons you can make an appeal. Most of which have nothing to do with that. Also, being able to make an appeal is a low bar. Most criminal convictions can be appealed…the chance of that appeal overturning the conviction remains low.
Are you saying you think a defense attorney’s job isn’t to do their best to defend their client?
There could be issues with witnesses or evidence that wasn’t handled properly. The attorney could point out all of those flaws in order to best defend their client. That of course would leave the defendant with nothing to try to apply with. A less thorough attorney might not find those issues.
OK, but your previous post says:
Do stand by what you said about defense attorneys not “there to get their clients out of trouble?”
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You’re really arguing that a defense attorney’s job isn’t to get their client out of trouble (or in other words, defend them)? Do you realize how ridiculous that is?
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/defending-guilty-people
I bet that attorney has so much good will for his client that he will give the best defense even though his client is a-hole.