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"When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more." - John Adams
SAY WHAT? "There are still defendants who have not been provided competent counsel -- or they have no real representation at all," the Constitution Project and the National Legal Aid and Defender Assn. said late last month in announcing formation of the National Committee on the Right to Counsel to address the issue. "Even though state and local governments are responsible for ensuring adequate counsel for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own lawyers, many people don't recieve that." In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Clarence Earl Gideon that the right to counsel in criminal cases was necessary to achieve a fair system of justice. In his initial trial, Gideon represented himself because he could not afford an attorney. After his conviction was overturned, he was retried and his appointed attorney discovered new witnesses and won an acquittal. Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale is serving as the newly formed committee's honorary chairman. In 1963, Mondale, then Minnesota's attorney general, organized 22 state attorneys general to file a friend of the court brief in favor of Gideon's right to a lawyer. Gideon's handwritten petition to the Supreme Court is now on display at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Many around the country argue today that the promise of Gideon remains unfulfilled, even if an attorney has been appointed. The attorney may be handling hundreds of other cases, have no expertise in criminal law or have no funds to investigate facts or get DNA tests. Four years ago, the Justice Department declared that public defense in the U.S. is in a "chronic state of crisis." Rhoda Billings, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and one of the three co-chairs of the new committee, said examples of problems abound. "In some instances across the country, courts have upheld convictions even when the defendants were represented by lawyers who slept through portions of the trial or were drunk or under the influence of drugs," she said. "That level of performance is not what the constitutional right to counsel means." "If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look for merit in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed. But Gideon did write that letter. The Court did look into his case and he was retried with the help of a competent defense counsel, found not guilty, and released from prison after two years of punishment for a crime he did not commit, and the whole course of American legal history has been changed."
WELL AMERICA, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE, WHAT'S ON THE RIGHTS >>>>>>>> OR "ENTITLEMENTS?" AND NO DUE PROCESS? AND FORGET ABOUT ASSISTANCE OF THE COUNSEL. "Only one tribunal ever adopted a practice of forcing counsel upon an unwilling defendant in a criminal proceeding. The tribunal was the Star Chamber."-U.S. v Faretta , 422 U.S. 806 (1975) REASONABLE DOUBT "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. (c) 1995-2026 |
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. AMENDED: NO LONGER A RIGHT A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. AMENDED: NO LONGER A RIGHT. EXCEPT NEVADA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE, "SUBJECT TO" FEDERAL BRADY ACT CHECKS. No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. AMENDED: NO LONGER A RIGHT The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. AMENDED: NO LONGER A RIGHT No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
They say... ""The Fifth Amendment also guarantees a defendant a right to due process at sentencing" Yet, "illegal" sentences are ignored with no process to fix them. Make that "substantial illegal sentences." That's part of the Myth of the Realm. A bed time story for the children. AMENDED: NO LONGER A RIGHT In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. Sure it does...say it again, "you have the right to confront the witnesses against you..." And again, "you have the right to confront the witnesses against you..." And again, you have the right to assistance of counsel. hahaha! In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no facts tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. AMENDED: “[s]evere, mandatory penalties may be cruel, but they are not unusual.” AMENDED: No conditions of bail is not defined as excessive. AMENDED: Cruel and unusual punishments can be inflicted. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Suspicion that viewpoint discrimination is afoot is at its zenith when the speech restricted is speech critical of the government," Ridley v. Mass. Bay Transp. Auth., 390 F.3d 65, 86 (1st Cir. 2004) FILE A COMPLAINT
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