I was reading an article about lawyers who are harassed because they defend certain criminals. It made me wonder, what if a person was accused of a crime so shocking and horrible that he couldn’t find an attorney? The court would appoint one, but I’ve heard that a court appointed lawyer can say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could defend this person adequately.”
Of course, in reality, someone would eventually agree to take the case. Just for the sake of argument though, what if no one would? Could the person still be tried if he’d requested a lawyer, but didn’t have one?
Not in Scotland.
The European Convention for Human Rights guarantees everyone the right to a fair trial. If someone is not legally qualified, they could not possibly expect to adequately defend themself, and therefore could not get a fair trial.
A person does not have the right to a lawyer of their choice, but they do have the right to a lawyer.
You are correct though that, in reality, there would always be some lawyer willing to defend them.
Or some lawyer who was willing to defend them, but not do a very good job.
No conviction would stand if the accused didn’t have a lawyer, unless he first knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his right to an attorney for trial. In the case you imagine, the court would appoint an attorney.
If the attorney didn’t vigorously defend his client, the conviction could be overturned on appeal. This is a bit tougher hurdle: you have to show that (1) The attorney’s performance fell below an objective, measurable standard of performance, and (2) as a result, the accused’s cause was prejudiced such that the result of the trial would likely have been different.
For example, if you’ve got a child molestor charged with fifty crimes against ten kids, and the lawyer fails to investigate the allegation that one of the accusing kids has had previous scrapes with the law… even if you accept that a competent lawyer would have done that investigation, you still haven’t shown that it likely would have changed the course of the trial.