There are some major flaws in our criminal justice system. These flaws result in innocent people going to prison. It is the ultimate miscarriage of justice — taking away the freedom of a factually innocent person while also allowing the guilty person to remain free.
There are a number of reasons for why innocent people get found guilty. The National Registry of Exonerations has identified six main causes:
- Perjury or False Accusation
- Inadequate Legal Defense
- False or Misleading Forensic Evidence
- Official Misconduct
- False Confession
- Mistaken Witness Identification
Inadequate Legal Defense
Bad lawyering is much more prevalent than one would think. Out of 3,159 exonerations tracked by the The National Registry of Exonerations, 823 or 26% listed Inadequate Legal Defense as a contributing factor in the wrongful conviction. These are factually innocent people who went to jail for a crime they did not commit, all because a lawyer did not do their job properly.
Inadequate defense lawyers have been found to be guilty of the following acts of negligence:
- Asleep during courtroom trial
- Drunk or high during trial
- Communicating with the client in a callous or hurried manner (i.e. unanswered calls)
- Perfunctory or no attempt at discovery
- Shallow or no investigation
- Failure to consult experts on forensic issues
- Minimal preparation, cursory cross-examination
- Failure to show up for hearings
- Failure to investigate alibis
Keep in mind that the statistic of 26% is only based on cases that were exonerated. That number would be far higher if you factored in all the inadequate defense that takes place in misdemeanor and lower grade felony cases which are never examined for exoneration. An example of this is attorneys advising clients to plead guilty because it fits their schedule better and because they think DUI tests or drug evidence can’t be beat. Often they do this without examining the evidence.
The McShane Firm is living proof that these cases can be beat if you have an attorney who knows what they are doing. We have many clients who worked with other lawyers who said their case was a lost cause but through hard work we were able to get them a favorable outcome. Choosing the right attorney is the one choice you can make that will have the biggest impact on your case. As Robert Frost said “A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.”
Bad Lawyers Destroy Real Lives
Take the case of Malcolm Alexander who wrongfully served 38 years in prison. Alexander was wrongfully convicted of the rape of the owner of an antique store in 1979. According to the police’s own reports, the victim “tentatively” identified Alexander.
According to The Innocence Project:
A review of the trial record reveals that Alexander’s attorney failed to make court appearances and to file important pleadings, including a motion challenging the identification. A review of the one-day trial transcript reveals that the attorney, who was subsequently disbarred, failed to make an opening statement, did not call any witnesses for the defense, failed to adequately cross-examine the state’s witnesses about the identification and presented a closing argument that was a mere four pages of the 87-page transcript. Alexander received a life sentence for the guilty verdict. Although the attorney promised to file an appeal of the verdict, he never filed it.
After serving 38 years, Alexander would be exonerated by DNA evidence.
Read more at: https://innocenceproject.org/causes/inadequate-defense/
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