Legal Rights During Trial
Legal Rights during Trial
Shelby Cullison
Introduction to Criminal Justice
Prof. Gaspar
March 22nd, 2013
Legal rights during a trial can be very important to the defendant in a case. These rights provide a lot of different options so that they can have their own choices about the case. All of these rights are in the 6th amendment to help the defendant in trial. I am going to discuss to you 4 of 8 different right for a defendant. The four I am going to be discussing are as follows, the right to confront witnesses, the right to counsel at trial, the right to a speedy trial, and the right to a public trial. The first one I am going to be discussing the right to confront witnesses. It states in the 6th amendment, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right… to be confronted with the witness against him.” (Siegel L. & Worrall J. 2013). This means that not only is the defendant allowed to confront any witness of their choosing but they can also participate in any way they want to in their own case. This can all be taken away from the defendant if misconduct is committed. This is done by the defendant not showing up for court. The confrontation can be violated if a testimony taken outside of the court and used to convict the accused while in court. Recently the court made the decision to extend that the defendant be able to question the analyst while in trial. This was a big change because they said that the testimony should be come out at trial and the analyst should not have to be questioned. Another way this cannot happen is if the defendant killed the witness they would not be allowed to appear at the hearing. There is something known as the confrontation clause which is very important in a trial. This restricts the, what is known as, the hearsay evidence. This is secondhand information or also known as the he said/ she said evidence. All evidence has to be face to face information, coming from the person that seen it with
Shelby Cullison
Introduction to Criminal Justice
Prof. Gaspar
March 22nd, 2013
Legal rights during a trial can be very important to the defendant in a case. These rights provide a lot of different options so that they can have their own choices about the case. All of these rights are in the 6th amendment to help the defendant in trial. I am going to discuss to you 4 of 8 different right for a defendant. The four I am going to be discussing are as follows, the right to confront witnesses, the right to counsel at trial, the right to a speedy trial, and the right to a public trial. The first one I am going to be discussing the right to confront witnesses. It states in the 6th amendment, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right… to be confronted with the witness against him.” (Siegel L. & Worrall J. 2013). This means that not only is the defendant allowed to confront any witness of their choosing but they can also participate in any way they want to in their own case. This can all be taken away from the defendant if misconduct is committed. This is done by the defendant not showing up for court. The confrontation can be violated if a testimony taken outside of the court and used to convict the accused while in court. Recently the court made the decision to extend that the defendant be able to question the analyst while in trial. This was a big change because they said that the testimony should be come out at trial and the analyst should not have to be questioned. Another way this cannot happen is if the defendant killed the witness they would not be allowed to appear at the hearing. There is something known as the confrontation clause which is very important in a trial. This restricts the, what is known as, the hearsay evidence. This is secondhand information or also known as the he said/ she said evidence. All evidence has to be face to face information, coming from the person that seen it with
References: Nolo, (2013), Criminal Defendants’ Rights during Trial: The Bill of Rights, http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defendants-rights-during-court-trial- 29793.html. Cornell University Law School, (August 19th, 2010), Right to Counsel, http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/right_to_counsel. Siegel L.J. &Worrall J. L., (2013), Introduction to Criminal Justice. Finn D., (n.d.), Right to Counsel, http://www.dallascriminallawyer.com/counsel.html.