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Lawyer under indictment has duty to disclose to client where prosecutor is the same

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

New Jersey holds that a lawyer under indictment for stalking had a duty to disclose to a murder defendant client that he was being prosecuted by the same prosecutor's office he was defending the client against because he would likely need something for himself from that prosecutor. State v. Cottle, No. A-111-06 (N.J. May 6, 2008). From the court's syllabus: 3. Both the United States Constitution and the New Jersey Constitution guarantee every person accused of a crime the right to the effective assistance of counsel. Under our State Constitution, effective counsel is an attorney who represents his client with undivided loyalty, unimpaired by conflicting interests. Ordinarily, a conflict must be evaluated and, if significant, a great likelihood of prejudice must be shown to establish constitutionally defective representation of counsel...continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on May 07, 2008 (boomark / email).