National Committee on the Right to Counsel To Examine System of Legal Representation For People Who Cannot Afford It
Posted: June 28, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
CONTACT - Cynthia Thomet
202-557-7519
National Committee on the Right to Counsel To Examine System of Legal Representation For People Who Cannot Afford It
Bipartisan Committee to Explore Ways to Provide Meaningful, Effective Counsel
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 22, 2004 – A new committee launched today will examine the ability of the American criminal justice system to provide adequate counsel to criminal defendants who cannot afford lawyers. The National Committee on the Right to Counsel includes members who have experience as judges, prosecutors, lawyers, law enforcers and policymakers and will assess the various ways that states and localities provide legal representation to criminal defendants. The committee will also provide recommendations on how to improve the system to ensure fairness for all Americans. Former Vice President Walter Mondale will serve as the honorary chair.
More than 40 years after the United States Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, that established the right to lawyers for poor people in criminal cases, there are still defendants today who have not been provided competent counsel – or they have no legal representation at all. The Constitution Project and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) established this bipartisan committee to address the contemporary application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling.
“We can play a significant role in addressing the issues that affect quality representation in our country,” says the Honorable Timothy K. Lewis, committee co-chair and former judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. “It’s time that all of us – judges, legislators, law enforcement, policymakers and academics – raise the level of consciousness on the right to counsel issue. The cross section of professional backgrounds and interests represented in this committee is a good place to start.”
Even though state and local governments are responsible for ensuring adequate counsel for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own lawyers, many people throughout the country are nonetheless still convicted and imprisoned each year without any legal representation, or with lawyers who have hundreds of other cases, no expertise in criminal law, or no funds to investigate facts or get DNA testing. Some people who cannot afford an attorney sit in jail for weeks or months before being assigned an attorney; others do not meet or speak with their lawyers until the day of a court appearance.
“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,” says the Honorable Rhoda Billings, committee co-chair and former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. “That level of performance is not what the constitutional right to counsel means. Whether counsel is state-appointed or privately retained, we expect fairness in our American criminal justice system.”
The committee is made up of people with a diversity of viewpoints and experience at the highest levels of every part of our justice system: police, prosecution, defense, judicial, victims, law schools, bar associations and state and federal government. One member participated as a Florida state prosecutor opposing Clarence Gideon’s request for counsel in the 1963 case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The committee’s youngest member, who recently graduated from law school, successfully proved the innocence of Anthony Porter, who came within 48 hours of being executed in Illinois.
“Prosecutors want capable defense attorneys in prosecutions to help prevent the unintentional conviction of an innocent person. Every conviction of an innocent person leaves the guilty person free to endanger our community,” says the Honorable Robert Johnson, District Attorney for Anoka County, Minn. and committee co-chair.
The Committee will be conducting its own research, as well as studying the conclusions of legal groups, such as NLADA, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which have identified several problems facing public defense, including: no counsel, excessive caseloads, a lack of enforceable standards of quality for competent counsel, underfunding, and a lack of independence.
Many jurisdictions across the country have made major strides in providing meaningful representation to those who cannot afford it. The committee will examine these experiences to develop practical recommendations for others to improve their representation system.
The committee members include:
Honorary Chair
Walter Mondale, former Vice President of the United States, U.S. Senator, and Minnesota Attorney General who organized the amicus brief of 22 states in favor of Gideon in Gideon v. Wainwright; partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
Members
Shawn Marie Armbrust, former Northwestern journalism student who helped exonerate death row inmate Anthony Porter; recent Georgetown law graduate.
Rhoda Billings, former Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court.
Jay Burnett, former Texas judge.
Dean Esserman, Police Chief, Providence, Rhode Island.
Tony Fabelo, Senior Associate, JFA Associates/The Institute; former Executive Director, Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council
Monroe Freedman, professor of law, Hofstra University.
Susan Herman, Executive Director, National Center for Victims of Crime.
Robert Hirshon, former ABA president; partner, Tonkon Torp LLP.
Bruce Jacob, professor of law, Stetson University; represented Florida in Gideon v. Wainwright.
Robert Johnson, District Attorney for Anoka County, Minn; Past President, National District Attorneys Association.
Abe Krash, partner at Arnold & Porter LLC; represented Clarence Gideon in Gideon v. Wainwright.
Norman Lefstein, former dean, now professor of law, Indiana University, School of Law - Indianapolis.
Timothy Lewis, former judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; former Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania; former Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; partner, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP.
Larry D. Thompson, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution; former Deputy Attorney General, Justice Department, George W. Bush Administration; former U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Georgia.
Hubert Williams, President, Police Foundation; former New Jersey police director; former special advisor to the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Committee Reporters
Mary Sue Backus, Associate Professor of Law, Oklahoma University College of Law; former Associate, Covington & Burling, former
Visiting Assistant, College of William and Mary School of Law.
Paul Marcus, Haynes Professor of Law, College of William and Mary. Past Acting Dean College of William and Mary School of Law
# # #
To learn more about the committee and right to counsel issue, please visit our online resource kit at: http://www.constitutionproject.org/rc/index.html.
About the Constitution Project (www.ConstitutionProject.org)
The Constitution Project, a part of Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, seeks to create bipartisan consensus on controversial legal and governance issues, and then to convey that consensus through public education and advocacy. In addition to the Right to Counsel Initiative, the Project has active initiatives on the constitutional amendment process, the death penalty, liberty and security after September 11, war powers, and judicial independence.
About the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (www.nlada.org)
The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating for equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
CONTACT - Cynthia Thomet
202-557-7519
National Committee on the Right to Counsel To Examine System of Legal Representation For People Who Cannot Afford It
Bipartisan Committee to Explore Ways to Provide Meaningful, Effective Counsel
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 22, 2004 – A new committee launched today will examine the ability of the American criminal justice system to provide adequate counsel to criminal defendants who cannot afford lawyers. The National Committee on the Right to Counsel includes members who have experience as judges, prosecutors, lawyers, law enforcers and policymakers and will assess the various ways that states and localities provide legal representation to criminal defendants. The committee will also provide recommendations on how to improve the system to ensure fairness for all Americans. Former Vice President Walter Mondale will serve as the honorary chair.
More than 40 years after the United States Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, that established the right to lawyers for poor people in criminal cases, there are still defendants today who have not been provided competent counsel – or they have no legal representation at all. The Constitution Project and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) established this bipartisan committee to address the contemporary application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling.
“We can play a significant role in addressing the issues that affect quality representation in our country,” says the Honorable Timothy K. Lewis, committee co-chair and former judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. “It’s time that all of us – judges, legislators, law enforcement, policymakers and academics – raise the level of consciousness on the right to counsel issue. The cross section of professional backgrounds and interests represented in this committee is a good place to start.”
Even though state and local governments are responsible for ensuring adequate counsel for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own lawyers, many people throughout the country are nonetheless still convicted and imprisoned each year without any legal representation, or with lawyers who have hundreds of other cases, no expertise in criminal law, or no funds to investigate facts or get DNA testing. Some people who cannot afford an attorney sit in jail for weeks or months before being assigned an attorney; others do not meet or speak with their lawyers until the day of a court appearance.
“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,” says the Honorable Rhoda Billings, committee co-chair and former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. “That level of performance is not what the constitutional right to counsel means. Whether counsel is state-appointed or privately retained, we expect fairness in our American criminal justice system.”
The committee is made up of people with a diversity of viewpoints and experience at the highest levels of every part of our justice system: police, prosecution, defense, judicial, victims, law schools, bar associations and state and federal government. One member participated as a Florida state prosecutor opposing Clarence Gideon’s request for counsel in the 1963 case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The committee’s youngest member, who recently graduated from law school, successfully proved the innocence of Anthony Porter, who came within 48 hours of being executed in Illinois.
“Prosecutors want capable defense attorneys in prosecutions to help prevent the unintentional conviction of an innocent person. Every conviction of an innocent person leaves the guilty person free to endanger our community,” says the Honorable Robert Johnson, District Attorney for Anoka County, Minn. and committee co-chair.
The Committee will be conducting its own research, as well as studying the conclusions of legal groups, such as NLADA, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which have identified several problems facing public defense, including: no counsel, excessive caseloads, a lack of enforceable standards of quality for competent counsel, underfunding, and a lack of independence.
Many jurisdictions across the country have made major strides in providing meaningful representation to those who cannot afford it. The committee will examine these experiences to develop practical recommendations for others to improve their representation system.
The committee members include:
Honorary Chair
Walter Mondale, former Vice President of the United States, U.S. Senator, and Minnesota Attorney General who organized the amicus brief of 22 states in favor of Gideon in Gideon v. Wainwright; partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
Members
Shawn Marie Armbrust, former Northwestern journalism student who helped exonerate death row inmate Anthony Porter; recent Georgetown law graduate.
Rhoda Billings, former Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court.
Jay Burnett, former Texas judge.
Dean Esserman, Police Chief, Providence, Rhode Island.
Tony Fabelo, Senior Associate, JFA Associates/The Institute; former Executive Director, Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council
Monroe Freedman, professor of law, Hofstra University.
Susan Herman, Executive Director, National Center for Victims of Crime.
Robert Hirshon, former ABA president; partner, Tonkon Torp LLP.
Bruce Jacob, professor of law, Stetson University; represented Florida in Gideon v. Wainwright.
Robert Johnson, District Attorney for Anoka County, Minn; Past President, National District Attorneys Association.
Abe Krash, partner at Arnold & Porter LLC; represented Clarence Gideon in Gideon v. Wainwright.
Norman Lefstein, former dean, now professor of law, Indiana University, School of Law - Indianapolis.
Timothy Lewis, former judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; former Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania; former Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; partner, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP.
Larry D. Thompson, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution; former Deputy Attorney General, Justice Department, George W. Bush Administration; former U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Georgia.
Hubert Williams, President, Police Foundation; former New Jersey police director; former special advisor to the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Committee Reporters
Mary Sue Backus, Associate Professor of Law, Oklahoma University College of Law; former Associate, Covington & Burling, former
Visiting Assistant, College of William and Mary School of Law.
Paul Marcus, Haynes Professor of Law, College of William and Mary. Past Acting Dean College of William and Mary School of Law
# # #
To learn more about the committee and right to counsel issue, please visit our online resource kit at: http://www.constitutionproject.org/rc/index.html.
About the Constitution Project (www.ConstitutionProject.org)
The Constitution Project, a part of Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, seeks to create bipartisan consensus on controversial legal and governance issues, and then to convey that consensus through public education and advocacy. In addition to the Right to Counsel Initiative, the Project has active initiatives on the constitutional amendment process, the death penalty, liberty and security after September 11, war powers, and judicial independence.
About the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (www.nlada.org)
The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating for equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.