6th Amendment Flashcards
6th Amendment: Right to Counsel
In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Indigent’s right to appointment of trial counsel
- Failure to appoint counsel is an affront to an individual’s due process
- The most critical period of the proceedings is from arraignment to the beginning of trial. It is when consultation, through investigation, and preparation are vital.
- Denial of counsel at this stage is a denial of due process.
Indigent’s right to assistance of counsel on first, direct appeal as-of-right
The state must provide counsel to eliminate unreasoned distinction and to assure meaningful appeal to all, including indigents.
State may not discriminate between rich and poor
Waiver of Right to Counsel
Accused must knowingly and intelligently forgo those relinquished benefits.
Right to Self Representation
- he relinquishes the traditional benefits associated with right to counsel.
- does not need the skill and experience of a lawyer in order to competently and intelligently to choose self-representation,
- he should be made aware of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation,
- Creates record to establish that he knows what he is doing and his choice is made with eyes open
Indigent’s right to counsel on discretionary state appeals
This is the appeal after the 1st appeal as of right
States are only required to meet minimum requirements of the constitution.
The duty of the state is only to assure the indigent an adequate opportunity to present his claims fairly on appeal.
6th amendment does not require appointment of counsel for discretionary appeals.
Counsels role at trial
to prove innocence; using counsel as a shield
Counsels role at discretionary appeal
to overturn decision; using counsel as a sword
Crucible of meaningful adversarial testing
When a true adversarial criminal trial has been conducted, the kind of testing envisioned by the 6th amendment has occurred.
But if the process loses its character as a confrontation between adversaries, the constitutional guarantee is violated.
Even if defense counsel may have made demonstrable errors.
Constitutional Requirement of Effective Assistance of Counsel
Did counsel’s performance so undermine the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied upon as having produced a just result?
Did counsel’s conduct deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable?
Presumption of Effective Assistance of Counsel
Courts presume that trial counsel was effective.
The strong presumption is that counsel’s performance falls within the wide range of reasonable assistance.
The Burden of showing Effective Assistance of Counsel
The burden is on the defendant to demonstrate two conjunctive things:
1) Deficient Performance
2) resulting prejudice
Harmless Error
Any error, defect, irregularity, or variance that does not affect substantial rights must be disregarded.
Post-Indictment lineup
In Wade, the court determined that post-indictment pretrial lineup is a “critical stage” in the proceedings.
Independent Source for In-Court identification factors
1) Prior opportunity to observe
2) Discrepancies between witness’s description of perpetrator and defendant’s actual appearance
3) Prior ID of another person
4) Photo ID of defendant before lineup ID
5) Failure to recognize defendant as perpetrator on a prior occasion.
6) Lapse of time between crime and lineup ID
7) Facts concerning conduct of lineup
