(DOWNLOAD) "Criminal Procedure - Supreme Judicial Court Delineates Method for Application of Forfeiture to Indigent Criminal Defendant - Commonwealth V. Means (Massachusetts)" by Suffolk University Law Review # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Criminal Procedure - Supreme Judicial Court Delineates Method for Application of Forfeiture to Indigent Criminal Defendant - Commonwealth V. Means (Massachusetts)
- Author : Suffolk University Law Review
- Release Date : January 22, 2010
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 302 KB
Description
Criminal Procedure--Supreme Judicial Court Delineates Method for Application of Forfeiture to Indigent Criminal Defendant--Commonwealth v. Means, 907 N.E.2d 646 (Mass. 2009) The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the fundamental right that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence." (1) Nevertheless, indigent defendants may relinquish their court-appointed counsel by three methods: voluntary waiver, waiver by conduct, and forfeiture. (2) In Commonwealth v. Means, (3) the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) considered whether the trial court's application of the doctrine of forfeiture, a novel matter in Massachusetts, was constitutional and appropriate in comparison to well-founded guidelines set forth by other federal and state jurisdictions. (4) The SJC, taking into account its own precedent, further examined the impact of a defendant's mental incapacity on the applicability of the forfeiture doctrine. (5) In determining that employment of forfeiture was incorrect, the SJC held that the trial court unconstitutionally infringed upon a defendant's Sixth Amendment rights by denying the defendant a proper hearing prior to the exercise of the forfeiture doctrine. (6)