Friday, August 31, 2007

State Public Defender Resigns

The head of the State Capital Defense program Chris Adams has stepped down due to what he perceives as a lack of resources.
In a letter sent Thursday to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, Chris Adams said the council should "tell the truth" to the courts about the lack of resources and halt all capital proceedings until there are enough resources for the office's lawyers to do their jobs.

And before some right wing screed master starts chirping about throwing away good money on bad people, we should all take another look at the 6th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
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 defense.

Don't like it? Too bad. It's the law.

For those with an insatiable curiousity for case law, you may also want to check out Powell v. Alabama and Hamilton v Alabama. Both cases in Alabama. Hmmmmm. Wonder why.

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