As both a former assistant district attorney and now as a criminal defense attorney, I agree with Ken Hodges’ statement that trial judges need to ensure that a criminal defendant be advised of his absolute right to testify at trial. I also agree with Ken that lawyers should face some sort of escalating discipline if they make serious mistakes handling criminal cases “Defense lawyer must have candor, as well as competence,” March 3.
The more post conviction work I do, the more I am disturbed by the serious mistakes made by lawyers handling criminal cases. As Ken stated, we as lawyers “owe the public a responsibility to ensure that they get quality legal representation from someone deemed worthy of admission to the State Bar of Georgia.” However, unlike Ken I do not confine my comments to criminal defense lawyers. Instead, I am also disturbed by the errors committed by prosecutors and trial judges, and equally disturbed by the appellate courts’ acceptance of these errors through their use of the terms “trial strategy” and “harmless error.”
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