The right to counsel for children and adults in four counties in Georgia should soon be much closer to meeting minimum constitutional demands. The structural changes will come about as the result of a class action lawsuit challenging the effectiveness…
Tag: case law – state courts
Maryland Supreme Court orders attorneys at bail hearings
Pleading the Sixth: On September 25, 2013, the Maryland Supreme Court reaffirmed its earlier holding that the right to counsel applies to all bail hearings before a commissioner. In effect, this undoes legislative attempts – created in the wake of an…
Tagged with: bail, case law - state courts, early appointment of counsel, litigation - systemic, Maryland
Florida Supreme Court grants public defenders the right to declare case overload
Pleading the Sixth: On May 23, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court granted the 11th Circuit Public Defender (Miami-Dade County) the right to refuse new cases due to case overload. Importantly, the Court makes the case that Strickland is an inadequate…
Tagged with: case law - state courts, caseloads & workloads, Florida, litigation, Miami-Dade County FL
Michigan Court of Appeals allows class action lawsuit to proceed
Pleading the Sixth: On April 3, 2013, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying the state’s motion to dismiss the American Civil Liberties Union’s class action lawsuit alleging systemic deficiencies to the delivery of constitutionally mandated…
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