NCJ Number
124742
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: (July-August 1990) Pages: 305-316
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Advocacy and ethics clash when appointed appellate counsel represents a defendant who has no arguable issues to raise on appeal. As an advocate, counsel must fight for his client, yet as an officer of the court, he cannot advance frivolous arguments.
Abstract
The U.S. Supreme Court's balancing of these competing interests has proven unworkable, and its recent opinions evince a misunderstanding of the role of defense counsel. Instead of requiring counsel to walk a legal tightrope, courts should ignore the ethical prohibition against the frivolous argument and support completely the defendant's ethical and Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. In short, State courts should ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in this area of the law and require merit briefs, no matter how weak, in all cases. 40 notes. (Publisher abstract)