why is the presence of a defense attorney indispensable

by Marlene Casper 9 min read

In every phase of a case, the role of a criminal defense lawyer is indispensable to save the accused from the verge of lifetime deprivation of his life or liberty. Proper representation of an experienced and reputable Michigan sex crime attorney helps the case to be favorable for the accused.

Full Answer

What does a criminal defense attorney do?

The Presence of a Lawyer is Indispensable during the Arrest On early stage of the case like during an arrest, the presence of a criminal defense lawyer is indispensable under the Miranda Rights. The law as well as the jurisprudence specifically provides for the proper procedure to be followed during an arrest.

Should attorneys be in the courtroom?

Aug 23, 2013 · As someone who has never been a crim­inal defense attor­ney, here’s how I would answer: Anyone—every­one—is entitled to a defense, and to a lawyer, because our rule of law is based upon the premise that the State must prove its case against a person beyond a reas­on­able doubt and because the history of the world, and of Amer­ica, teaches us that the …

Is the defense attorney the equalizer in plea bargaining?

The Defense Attorney's Role in Plea Bargaining* by Albert W. Alsehulert. The criminal defense attorney is often seen as a romantic figure-a sophisticated master-of-the-system whose only job is to be on the defendant's side. The attorney's presence can, in this view, be an anti-

How important is the presence of counsel when negotiating a plea?

and (4) if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you prior to any questioning.18 The presence of a defense attorney played a key role in the Miranda Court’s vision of the interrogation process. “[T]he right to have counsel present at the interrogation is indispensable to the protection of the Fifth Amendment privilege

image

What happened to Jeffrey McDonald?

When they entered the apartment, they found McDonald, a Green Beret trauma surgeon, lying unconscious across his wife Colette’s dead, mutilated body. Their two young daughters were found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in their bedrooms. MacDonald told investigators that he had fallen asleep on the couch and a woken in the middle of the night to find four intruders standing over him — three men, including one in an army jacket, and a woman with long blonde hair, dark clothing and a floppy hat, holding a candle — and that the men proceeded to attack him with a club and stab him in the chest. MacDonald claimed that, after a struggle, he lost consciousness, and awoke some time later to the gruesome sight of his murdered family. He was then treated for his injuries, including a stab wound to the chest that partially collapsed one of his lungs.

When was the first habeas petition denied?

MacDonald’s first habeas petition was denied by a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari in 1986. Two years later, MacDonald and an investigator named Ellen Dannelly began to sift through the thousands of pages of FOIA materials that the government had handed over in advance of MacDonald’s first habeas petition. MacDonald then retained FOIA expert Anthony Bisceglie, who filed additional FOIA requests with the Army, FBI, and DOJ. My colleagues and I came on board after Bisceglie began his FOIA work.

What was the Puretz Memo?

The Murphy FOIA materials supplied a wealth of exculpatory evidence. Some of it was forensic, some not. Foremost among the nonforensic pieces of evidence that made an impression on me was an innocuous-seeming memorandum that we called the “Puretz Memo,” named after a law student clerk who was working at the time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was helping the trial team, particularly DOJ lawyer Brian Murtagh, prepare for trial. The Puretz memo delineated the state of federal law regarding a prosecutor’s obligation to disclose to the defense any exculpatory evidence known to the prosecutor in accordance with the Brady7 case law promulgated by the Supreme Court, as well as the Fourth Circuit.

image

The Murders and The Legal Proceedings to Date

  • Early in the morning of Feb. 17, 1970, military police responding to an emergency call arrived at Jeffrey MacDonald’s apartment in Fort Bragg, N.C. When they entered the apartment, they found McDonald, a Green Beret trauma surgeon, lying unconscious across his wife Colette’s dead, mutilated body. Their two young daughters were found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in thei…
See more on nacdl.org

The FOIA Expedition

  • MacDonald’s first habeas petition was denied by a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari in 1986. Two years later, MacDonald and an investigator named Ellen Dannelly began to sift through the thousands of pages of FOIA materials that the government had handed over in advance of MacDonald’s first habeas petition. MacDon…
See more on nacdl.org

The Puretz Memorandum

  • The Murphy FOIA materials supplied a wealth of exculpatory evidence. Some of it was forensic, some not. Foremost among the nonforensic pieces of evidence that made an impression on me was an innocuous-seeming memorandum that we called the “Puretz Memo,” named after a law student clerk who was working at the time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was helping the trial t…
See more on nacdl.org

Mccleskey v. Zant Intervenes

  • By 1991, we thought that we could, and would, make a very powerful habeas showing that would get MacDonald the new trial that had thus far evaded him. At such a retrial, we thought that gaining his acquittal would not be such a hard task, given the voluminous amount of exculpatory evidence that MacDonald’s investigators and our legal team had compiled. The evidence seeme…
See more on nacdl.org

Conclusion

  • The tragedy of the MacDonald case — three human beings slaughtered and the bereaved survivor suffering half his life in prison for crimes that the full panoply of evidence shows he did not commit — is a tale of what can happen when defense counsel is not allowed reasonable, fair access to evidence secured in the prosecution file. The Brady rule, in theory, should have been tr…
See more on nacdl.org

Notes

  1. The MacDonaldcase was a relatively rare federal murder prosecution because the crime took place at Fort Bragg, N.C., a federal military base.
  2. The mind-boggling procedural history was most recently laid out by the Fourth Circuit in United States v. MacDonald, 641 F.3d 596; 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 7914 (April 19, 2011).
  3. The botched investigation of the MacDonald murder scene is described in vivid detail in Errol …
  1. The MacDonaldcase was a relatively rare federal murder prosecution because the crime took place at Fort Bragg, N.C., a federal military base.
  2. The mind-boggling procedural history was most recently laid out by the Fourth Circuit in United States v. MacDonald, 641 F.3d 596; 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 7914 (April 19, 2011).
  3. The botched investigation of the MacDonald murder scene is described in vivid detail in Errol Morris’s recent book about the case, A Wilderness of Error(2012).
  4. United States v. MacDonald, 435 U.S. 850 (1978) (holding that the Fourth Circuit lacked jurisdiction to grant before trial MacDonald’s motion to dismiss on speedy trial grounds); United States v. M...