American Constitution Law 4 J - Essay Example

This scenario indicates that Janet may still be denied the right to hire an attorney for initial appearance if there is enough circumstantial evidence. For instance, in case of Rothgery, the arresting officer submitted a sworn affidavit stating that there was enough circumstantial evidence. Also, the court ruling also came in favor of country stating that "[t]here is also no indication that the officer who filed the probable cause affidavit at Rothgerys appearance had any power to commit the state to prosecute without the knowledge or involvement of a prosecutor.

” Mason & Beaney 1968) Thus, even when Janet has enough resources to hire a counsel, based on probable cause, her right to sixth amendment still may be denied. Sixth Amendment categorically protects the destitute from unfair trial, which implies that if the petitioner doesn’t have enough resources to hire a counselor, the judge must assign an attorney who must be paid for by the government resources. Powel v Alabama (1932) set a precedent in this regard where right to counsel was secured for the indigent Mason & Beaney 1968).

However, reality may be contrary to what the Amendment states. The Walter Rothgery is an instance where the right to counsel was denied and he was jailed on the basis of falsified evidence. Also, he was re-arrested and due to frailty of resources he couldn’t hire an attorney. Later, when he filed a petition against the county, there was no relief while the court rules that the officers had no knowledge of his arrest in 2002. Thus, Morris does have a right to counsel for his initial appearance yet if probable cause is strong enough and if he doesn’t have enough resources to hire an attorney, he will have to bear with the arrest even if it is unfair.

Therefore, many cases have been reported where the alleged felons have been under-represented just because they couldn’t afford an attorney. In case of Morris, chances are