Title: The Bright Linees Dark Zone: Pre-Charge Attachment of the 6th Amendment Right to Counsel
Abstract: In this Article, Prof. Mulroy discusses an unsettled issue which arises with some frequency in the federal courts: whether the Sixth Amendment right to counsel can ever apply prior to the filing of a formal charge by a prosecutor. There are a number of situations - most notably, pre-indictment plea negotiations involving the prosecutor - where a defendant most decidedly needs the assistance of counsel, even before formal charges are filed. Language in Supreme Court cases has suggested that the right does not attach until a prosecutor files a charge in court, or the defendant appears before a magistrate. Some lower courts have relied on this language to fashion a “bright-line rule” preventing Sixth Amendment protection prior to formal charges being filed. But these Supreme Court cases were decided prior to recent rulings by the Court that a Sixth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claim could cover plea negotiations. The circuit courts are split on this issue, with some accepting and some rejecting the notion of a bright-line rule.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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