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Rothgery ruling "trumped" counties leeway to delay counsel appointments

From Texas Lawyer, more clues about the impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Rothgery and whether it will require Texas counties to appoint counsel earlier in the process ("Released defendants to get speedier access to counsel," June 26): Wesley Shackelford, special counsel for the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense, says the Supreme Court's ruling in Rothgery defines when "adversarial judicial proceedings" are initiated under Texas law -- an issue Shackelford says has not been totally clear since the Texas Legislature passed the Fair Defense Act in 2001. Shannon Edmonds, the Texas District and County Attorneys Association's governmental affairs director, says the Legislature crafted a compromise in the 2001 legislation to provide that if an indigent defendant was released prior to having an attorney appointed, the appointment of counsel "is not required until the defendant's first court appearance or when adversarial judicial proceedings are initiated, whichever comes first...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 26, 2008 (boomark / email).