CJA484-Week 4: Your Right to Counsel

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Criminal Law Foundations

Steven Griffiths

CJA484

Nicholas Barbella

1/13/2014

Your Right to Counsel

According to the Constitution of the United States of America; the Sixth Amendment

holds, in part that “all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right, to have the

assistance of counsel for his defense.” It is this specific clause that grants the right to all

defendants their right to have an attorney from the exact moment that they are taken into custody

of any law enforcement agency. Certain rulings of the United States Supreme Court have also

shaped this specific Right to Counsel clause, meaning that an individual who is improvised or

indigent, has this Constitutional right to the representation of an attorney provided by the court, at

critical stages in the persons criminal proceedings. These stages include (but are not limited) to:

arraignment, trial, sentencing, preliminary hearings, lineups, post-indictment custodial

interrogation, and the appealing of the first conviction. Let us step back a little bit and look where

the Right to Counsel Clause came from. In the beginning is was formed as a reaction against the

Old English practice of depriving the assistance of a legal aid in serious criminal cases , and made

the defendants appear in front of the judge, in court to represent themselves in only their own

words. The 1586 trial of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, illustrates the harshness of denying the

assistance of counsel in a criminal case. Queen Mary was charged with Treason for allegedly

conspiring to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Mary asked for the assistance of counsel, Pleading

that "the laws and statutes of England are to me most unknown; I am destitute of counsellors …

and no man dareth step forth to be my advocate" (Winick 1989, 787). Even after hearing this, her

requests were still denied and Mary was convicted, and executed. Framers of the United States

Constitution had considered the lack of legal representation absurd compared to the basic

principles of the still young criminal justice system.

When you are granted legal counsel by the court system, a lawyer is assigned to you and

your specific case, who will act on your behalf in all aspects of your criminal proceedings. There

are also three triggering events that will attach a right to counsel to an individual: (1) entry or

retaining of counsel on the matter; (2) commencement of a criminal prosecution of the matter; (3)

request for counsel or invocation of the right to counsel concerning the matter while held in

custody. When the person’s right to counsel does meet the requirements to be attached according

to one of the 3 rules, any and all statements that are deliberately elicited from the individual by

law enforcement without their legal counsel present are then subject to suppression and any and

all consents to search that were obtained without counsel present is also invalid. In the state of

New York the right to counsel attaches to any matter on any of these three triggering events: “(1)

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Criminal Law Foundations Steven Griffiths CJA484 Nicholas Barbella 1/13/2014 Your Right to Counsel According to the Constitution of the United States of America; the Sixth Amendment holds, in part that "all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right, to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." It is this specific clause that grants the right to all defendants their right to have an attorney from the exact moment that they are taken into custody of any law enforcement agency. Certain rulings of the United States Supreme Court have also shaped this specific Right to Counsel clause, meaning that an individual who is improvised or indigent, has this Constitutional right to the representation of an attorney provided by the court, at critical stages in the persons criminal proceedings. These stages include (but are not limited) to: arraignment, trial, sentencing, preliminary hearings, lineups, post-indictment custodial interrogation, and the appealing of the first conviction. Let us step back a little bit and look where the Right to Counsel Clause came from. In the beginning is was formed as a reaction against the Old English practice of depriving the assistance of a legal aid in serious criminal cases , and made the defendants appear in front of the judge, in court to represent themselves in only their own words. The 1586 trial of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, illustrates the harshness of denying the assistance of counsel in a criminal case. Queen M ...
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