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Right to Counsel

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Right to Counsel
Lionel James
CJA/364
December12, 2011
CHARLES MC CLELLAND

Right to Counsel

Introduction: The primary source of the right to counsel is the Sixth Amendment. It states in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to have the Assistance of Counsel for defence. In this article, the development of the right to council will be discussed as well as when the right to council attaches to criminal procedures. The right to self- representation and the role of attorneys as it applies to right to council will be discussed as well.

The development of the right to counsel:

The Supreme Court in 1932 began to define the right to counsel and years later it applied it to the Sixth Amendment right to states. It incorporated that right into the Fourteenth Amendment. In the Powell v.Alabama (1932), the Court found that under certain circumstances state courts had to provide criminal defendants with free counsel. (Zalman,2008). The main issue in the Powell case was whether the defendants ‘due process rights were violated by the denial of the right to counsel, with the accustomed incidents of consultation and opportunity of preparation for trial.(Zalman,2008). Betts v.Brady (1942) was a setback to the incorporation of the Sixth Amendment. Betts confirmed the special circumstances rule of Powell. Betts, a farmhand, was indicted for noncapital robbery. Not having the money to hire a lawyer, Betts asked the judge for appointed counsel at his arraignment. (Zalman, 2008). The judge refused, stating that the Carroll County Court appointed counsel for indigent defendants only in prosecutions for murder and rape. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether a state felony trial conducted without defense counsel was a deprivation of Fourteenth Amendment due process liberty. (Zalman, 2008). Justice Black urged incorporation of the

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