Melissa Hinton

CJUS 2050
7.1 Forum
Interpret the four major legal issues surrounding the right to counsel.
A. Non-felony criminal prosecutions
a. Consistent in charging crimes throughout the country
b. Reduced duplication of effort because one prosecutor can be used in several
jurisdictions
c. Easier to define defendants involvement in multiple infractions
d. Crimes can be charged differently depending on:
i. Criminal history
ii. Degree of injury
iii. Defendants relationship to victim(s)
e. Prioritizes cases
f. Limited counsel for misdemeanor cases
i. Traffic violations, petty theft (dollar amount varies from state to state),
disorderly conduct, etc.
B. Stages of the criminal process
a. Right to court-appointed counsel during custodial interrogations and police lineups
i. Ex: Appearing before a judge until sentence is pronounced and the first appeal
has been concluded.
1. Does not include grand jury cases
ii. Detainment by police officers, doesnt include the right to a court-appointed
counsel
iii. Counsel must be voluntary after cases where the death penalty is sought, when
the defendant is seeking post-conviction remedies
C. Ineffective assistance of counsel
a. Lawyer must be competent enough to represent in trial proceedings
i. A lawyers failure to file an appeal doesnt necessarily constitute ineffective
counsel
ii. Wiggins v. Smithcourt ordered a new sentencing hearing because an
inexperienced defense solicitor failed to conduct a judicious inquiry of the
defendants disturbing personal background
D. Self-representation
a. People have a constitutional right to represent themselves
i. Must be competent and have the ability to conduct the trial
1. Does not need expert knowledge of criminal law and procedures