criminal defendents

Ethics Alarms’ All-Time Greatest Hits

/ Jack Marshall / 17 Comments

AllTimeGreatestHits

I am listing these because one of the past posts that keep drawing readers is going nuts today: the 2013 essay about the horrible Wanetta Gibson, who sent Brian Banks, a young man with a bright future to prison by falsely accusing him of rape when she was 15. If anyone has any idea why this would be, let me know; as far as I can find out, there are no new developments in the case.

It is gratifying that so many Ethics Alarms posts continue to find new readers. Here are the top ten that have “legs,” and my assessment of why.

1. The Rationalizations List. That’s no surprise, since I link to it so frequently, and it is also frequently updated.

2. Wanetta Gibson Is Even Worse Than We Thought

3.The Amazing Mouthwash Deception: Helping Alcoholics Relapse For Profit. I am proud of this one. The use of mouthwash by alcoholics is epidemic, yet now, as in 2010 when I wrote this, almost nobody who isn’t a drunk is likely to know it. This makes it easy for closeted alcoholics to hide their illness, and continue to harm themselves by gulping 54 proof liquor out of various convenient containers or their caps, which are coincidentally shaped like shot glasses. Incredibly, the Ethics Alarms post is still one of the few references on this problem on the web. As you will read, I think the makers of mouthwash intentionally keep it this way, because the alcoholic market is huge.

I regularly receive thanks from family members of alcoholics, who tell me that reading this post led to their discovering that a loved oned had relapsed. Continue reading →

Ethics Heroes: The Orleans Public Defenders

/ Jack Marshall / 46 Comments

foldersWhen is it your ethical duty to refuse to do your job? Here is one example.

The Orleans Public Defenders office finally decided to force the issue of under-funding for the defense of indigent criminals in the city, announcing last week that, as Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton warned nearly two months ago without any official response, it will begin refusing to handle serious felony cases in which defendants face lengthy or life sentences. Such cases include murder, attempted murder, forcible rape and armed robbery.

The office either needs more funding or reduced caseloads. The city must provide a lawyer for those charged who cannot afford counsel (The 6th Amendment and the Supreme Court insist) , but like almost every city in the nation, the funding for the New Orleans public defenders service is pitiful. With an inadequate staff of lawyers who must handle more cases than it is possible to defend competently, this creates both a Constitutional crisis and an ethical one.

Defense lawyers, like all lawyers, must do a competent job. The professional ethics rules require attorneys to control their workloads: Comment 2 to ABA Rule 1.3, which corresponds to the Louisiana rule, states that a lawyer’s workload “must be controlled so that each matter may be handled competently.” Most public defenders offices know that their clients’ right to representation is being compromised by under-funding, but choose to soldier on, doing the best they can. Several years ago, one office even argued that their clients had “consented” to less than competent representation, because the alternative was no representation at all.  (The court did not agree.)

The American Bar Association addressed this problem in a formal opinion, and wrote, Continue reading →