Trial Flashcards
Right to Public Trial
The sixth and fourteenth amendments guarantee the right to a public trial, but the right varies with the stage of the proceeding
Pretrial Proceedings (public trial)
Preliminary probable cause hearings are presumptively open to the public and press, as are pretrial suppression hearings, although the latter may be closed to the public under limited circumstances
A court must make every reasonable effort to accommodate public attendance at jury void dire proceedings
Trial (public trial)
The press and public have a first amendment right to attend the trial itself, even when the defense and prosecution agree to close it.
the state may constitutionally permit televising criminal proceedings over the defendant’s objection.
Right to Unbiased Judge
The right to an unbiased judge means:
1) the judge has no financial interest in the outcome of the case; and
2) the judge has no actual malice against the defendant
Impermissible bias also is present when the judge earlier has significant, personal involvement as a prosecutor in a critical decision regarding the defendant’s case
Must the Judge be a Lawyer
A defendant in a minor misdemeanor prosecution has no rights to have the trial judge be a lawyer if upon conviction the defendant has a right to trial de novo in a court with a lawyer judge, but for serious crimes, the judge probably must be law trained
Right to Jury Trial
There is no constitutional right to jury trial for petty offenses, but only serious offenses.
An offense is serious if imprisonment for more than 6 months is authorized.
There is no right to jury trial in juvenile delinquency proceedings.
GA Right to Trial
In GA, there is a right to a jury in all criminal trials
Number and Unanimity of Jurors
There is no constitutional right to a jury of 12, but there must be at least 6 jurors to satisfy the right to a jury trial.
Jury verdicts must be unanimous
GA Number of Jurors
In GA, 6 person juries for misdemeanors and 12 person juries for felonies
Right to Representative Cross Section
A defendant has a right to have the jury selected from a representative cross-section of the community.
The defendant need only show the underrepresentation of a distinct and numerically significant group in the venire to show that their jury trial right was violated.
NOTE - this is not a right to proportional representation on their particular jury
Preemptory Challenges
preemptory challenges permit both sides to exclude jurors without stating their reasons
The equal protection clause forbids the use of preemptory challenges to exclude potential jurors solely on account of their race or gender.
An equal protection attack on preemptory strikes is a three step process:
1) the defendant must show facts or circumstances that raise an inference that the exclusion was based on race or gender;
2) upon such a showing, the prosecutor must come forward with a race-neutral explanation for the strike; and
3) the judge then determines whether the prosecutor’s explanation was the genuine reason for striking the juror
Effective Assistance of Counsel
The sixth amendment right to counsel includes the right to effective counsel. This right extends to the first appeal. Effective assistance of counsel is generally presumed.
Circumstances constituting Ineffective Assistance
Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are subject to a two prong test:
1) Deficiency Requirement – The defendant must show that the counsel’s performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness - counsel made errors so serious that they were not functioning at counsel
2) Prejudice Requirement – The defendant must also show that, but for the deficiency, the outcome of the trial would have been different
The defendant must point out specific deficiencies and cannot base the claim on inexperience, lack of time to prepare, the gravity of the charges, the complexity of the defenses, or accessibility of witnesses to counsel.
NOTE – IF counsel admits their client’s guilt in the fact of the defendant’s clearly articulated desire to maintain their innocence during the sentencing phase of trial, this error mandates a new trial without any need to first show prejudice
NOTE – It is constitutionally deficient for counsel not to inform a client whether their plea carries a risk of deportation
GA Objecting to a Jury Charge (instruction)
In GA, a party who objects to any portion of the jury charge (or failure to charge the jury) must inform the court of the specific objection and the grounds for the objection before the jury retires to deliberate.
Objections must be raised outside the presence of the jurors.
Failure to object in accordance with this reels precludes appellate review of the charge, unless the charge constitutes plain error affecting substantial rights of the parties.
