Misdemeanor Defendants Routinely Denied Rights

Misdemeanor Defendants Routinely Denied Rights
AP Photo/Brennan Linsley

Many poor defendants in Nashville facing misdemeanor charges that can carry jail time are not told they are entitled to a lawyer. This is one of the most routine constitutional violations taking place in U.S. courts every day, according to the American Bar Association. These defendants often accept plea deals from prosecutors that land them in jail without ever seeing a judge.

From ProPublica:

The defendants were booked, photographed, fingerprinted and then led into Court 1A in the county courthouse in Nashville. There was no judge. Prosecutors handling the misdemeanor cases invited the accused who were interested in pleading guilty to step forward and finalized plea deals for suspended sentences and an array of fines. There were no defense lawyers, nor were any of the defendants advised they were entitled to one.

Later that day in September 2016, a group of five defendants was called up by a local prosecutor and offered the previously arranged plea deals, some of which might have resulted in days behind bars. One defendant asked to see a judge. The prosecutor said that was not possible, and that her only choice at that moment was to plead guilty, or to plead not guilty and go to trial. The defendant could only speak to the judge, the prosecutor said, if she rejected the plea offer. Again, none of the defendants was told they had the right to see a lawyer before entering any plea.

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