If a defense attorney knows that the prosecutor is about to miss a filing deadline?
Friday, May 30th, 2008 at
8:01 am
Mister J asked:
against his client, is the defense lawyer obligated as an officer of the court to inform the prosecutor so that he can enter the charge on time? Added information: the client is guilty.
against his client, is the defense lawyer obligated as an officer of the court to inform the prosecutor so that he can enter the charge on time? Added information: the client is guilty.
No it is not the responsibility of the defense attorney to do the prosecutors job for them.~
NO, the defense attorney is NOT obligated to do so and should not do so. There is a difference between the situation your are talking about and lets say making a false statement to the court. The former is OK and the latter is not. A defense lawyer is bound to act within the law and ethics to zealously represent his client. Making the state go through its paces is always OK.
If the state misses a deadline, the defense should seek to take advantage of that to the benefit of his client. For instance, lets say the state requires a defendant to be charged within 179 days of arrest. Under that state’s rules, if the state fails to charge within 179 days, the defendant is entitled to be discharged forever from the charge for which he was arrested. In such a situation, the defense would not be obligated to remind the state about the deadline and indeed should not. Instead, an effective defense counsel, on the 180th day or soon thereafter should file a motion for discharge for violation of speedy trial.