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Assistance of Counsel is Not an Absolute Right

By Baker Associates

Americans often like to cite the various rights guaranteed them by the United States Constitution and with good reason; these guarantees protect and empower Americans in various ways. These rights, however, are anything but guaranteed. The Sixth Amendment gives a defendant the right to assistance of counsel in criminal prosecutions, but this right, like any right, can be taken away if it is not used responsibly. A recent Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals case illustrates this idea. Mr. Willis, the defendant, was charged with four counts of Tennessee first-degree murder and three counts of abusing corpses, and the State of Tennessee was seeking the death penalty. Mr. Willis, in an effort to delay his impending trial, attempted to get his appointed counsel to withdraw from representation so he would be appointed a different attorney and, more importantly, his trial date would be pushed back to give that attorney time to get familiar with the case...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on September 25, 2009 (boomark / email).