Courtroom Participants\' Professional Standards PDF

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Running head: COURTROOM PARTICIPANTS' PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Courtroom Participants' Professional Standards Juan Mendoza CJA 224 5/21/2013 Connie Page

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Courtroom Participants' Professional Standards Misconduct from either the prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, or the judge can lead to the impediment of the criminal justice system. This affects not only their jobs but also has serious consequences for the public, defendant, and victim. This can lead to an innocent person getting sentenced for another’s mishaps, a guilty person being set free, and a disenchantment of the public with the criminal justice system leading to a decreased communication and help in future cases. In Del Norte County, California the district attorney, Jon Michael Alexander, is being tried to determine if he should be disbarred (Terry, 2013). This came up because of a few incidents. Alexander was found that he spoke with a women who was accused of possessing illegal drugs without her attorney present, and found that she was not in possession of the illegal drugs when her and another person were arrested (Terry, 2013). Alexander found that the other person, not the defendant, was in possession of the drugs, and he did not pass on this information to her attorney (Terry, 2013). He later lied and said that he did not speak to the defendant, but the defendant had recorded him (Terry, 2013). It was also found, although dismissed, that he had “lent” money to a probation officer and a criminal defense lawyer with the sums of $14,000 and $6,000 respectfully (Terry, 2013) . Immunity that he had has helped him with getting the amounts of money that he lent to probation officer and criminal defense lawyer dismissed. The money he lent them could be seen to be a bribe because they are large sums and were given to people who would seem to be an unethical decision. He has been found “not eligible to practice law by the state bar,” and will have his case reviewed by the California Supreme Court (Terry, 2013). The United States Supreme Court in a case named Padilla v. Kentucky, on March 2010, stated that “a criminal defense attorney has a duty to advise a non-citizen client that a guilty plea

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could result in deportation” (Corbett, 2010). This was because Padilla was accusing his attorney of ineffective assistance by criminal defense counsel because he was not told that giving a guilty plea, for a plea bargain, could result in him being deported (Corbett, 2010). He was later faced deportation, although he was a legal permanent resident alien (Corbett, 2010). Padilla alleged that he was told by his defense attorney that he would not face deportation because he had been a “good” resident for such a long time, the defense attorney was wrong (Corbett, 2010). The Strickland v. Washington case determined that a criminal defendant must show that his criminal defendant performance was below the standard of reasonableness, and because of that his or her proceeding would have had a different outcome (“Strickland v. Washington,” 2013). The new Padilla ruling stated that a criminal defense attorney needs to instruct the defendant of secondary consequences that may arise because of a guilty plea, which overruled part of State v. Jimenez. In the Lindsey Lohan DUI case, there were two judges that were reprimanded because of their judgments. The first judge, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Marshal Revel, was removed from the case because she had met with the privately with Lohan’s attorney, Robert Shapiro, and this is seen as unethical because another attorney needs to be present (Granda, 2012). The second judge, Judge Elden Fox, denied Lohan bail, and when her attorney tried to object to the decision Judge Elden Fox “Shut her up and told her to sit down” (Granda, 2012). This is wrong because this was a misdemeanor and in a misdemeanor case bail cannot be denied. A third judge overruled Judge Fox’s decision and set Lohan’s bail at $300,000 (Granda, 2012). The judicial selection option that should reduce judicial misconduct is election by the public, and it should not be conducted by other people in political power. A couple of examples of people in political power are congress, governor, police chiefs, or other judges. This would help with the

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judges having to conduct professionally their cases if they want to continue to be a judge when the next elections come up. Misconduct and ineffectiveness in courtrooms inhibit the crime control model in criminal justice because it will slow the proper outcome or completely stop the proper outcome from occurring. For example in the Lindsey Lohan case the first judge should not have met with Lohan’s attorney alone, and this is because it is unethical and can lead people to believe that bribery or other similar events could have happened. In the case of California District Attorney Alexander his misconduct could have led to the release of convicted criminals that need to be incarcerated because of his or her criminal ways. The misconduct of the prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, or the judge will lead to the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice system to be greatly diminished. The public can become disillusioned with it because of unfair or unethical practices or rulings. Innocent people can be incarcerated even for many years, or worse be given the death penalty. Guilty people who should be locked up could be set free, either through insufficient evidence for trial, unethical means such as bribery, or because of a mistrial that can happen through a few ways. District Attorney’s like Alexander should not be allowed to practice law, through first questioning a defendant without her attorney present, lying to cover up that he had interrogated the defendant, suppression of evidence, and the possibility of bribery. The California bar had a good reason for prohibiting him from practicing law, at least for the time being while his case is heard by the California Supreme Court. The California should find him guilty of his crime, if he is truly guilty of them and bar him from ever practicing law again. People who act the way he is being accused is why innocent people are incarcerated and guilty people are set free.

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References Corbett, A. (2010, December 29). Ineffective assistance of counsel and deportation. The Corbett Law Firm. Retrieved from http://texastriallawyer.info/2012/12/dallas-criminal-lawattorney/ Granda,C. (2012, July 16). Judicial misconduct in lindsay lohan dui case?. KABC-TV Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/entertainment&id=8738432 Strickland v. Washington. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/criminalprocedure/criminal-procedure-keyed- to-saltzburg/the-right-to-counsel/strickland-vwashington-4/ Terry, C. (2013, April 08). District attorney should be disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct, state bar court recommends. ABA Journal. Retrieved from http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/district_attorney_should_be_disbarred_for_pros ecutorial_misconduct/...