http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2008/10/12/when-the-lawyer-messes-up-should-the-defendant-suffer-the-consequences/ Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:44:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2008/10/12/when-the-lawyer-messes-up-should-the-defendant-suffer-the-consequences/comment-page-1/#comment-591 David Papke Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:58:50 +0000 http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/?p=1249#comment-591 One reason the Court may not decide the way Michael O. and Michael M. hope, is the class-related nature of American criminal justice. Most defendants are indigent, and the great majority do not receive trials. Charges are dismissed, plea-bargained, and sentence-threatened. The goal for the most part is the processing of a presumptively guilty underclass. Due process refinements would slow the wheels. One reason the Court may not decide the way Michael O. and Michael M. hope, is the class-related nature of American criminal justice. Most defendants are indigent, and the great majority do not receive trials. Charges are dismissed, plea-bargained, and sentence-threatened. The goal for the most part is the processing of a presumptively guilty underclass. Due process refinements would slow the wheels.

]]> http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2008/10/12/when-the-lawyer-messes-up-should-the-defendant-suffer-the-consequences/comment-page-1/#comment-576 Mike McChrystal Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:28:18 +0000 http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/?p=1249#comment-576 The Court has been very disappointing, in my view, with respect to lawyer issues in the criminal defense context. Clients are often bound by their attorneys' mistakes, as Michael notes, but also often are denied the right of the typical principal to control their attorneys' conduct. The cases seem strongly to reflect an elevation of judicial economy over agency principles, and even less to reflect an acceptance of a robust notion of due process. I will hope with Michael, particularly that some more principled rather than practical concept of the attorney-client relation emerges. The Court has been very disappointing, in my view, with respect to lawyer issues in the criminal defense context. Clients are often bound by their attorneys’ mistakes, as Michael notes, but also often are denied the right of the typical principal to control their attorneys’ conduct. The cases seem strongly to reflect an elevation of judicial economy over agency principles, and even less to reflect an acceptance of a robust notion of due process. I will hope with Michael, particularly that some more principled rather than practical concept of the attorney-client relation emerges.

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