Supreme Court says defendant can't blame lawyer for delays
Legal News Center
The Supreme Court has ruled that a delay caused by a public defender in a criminal trial does not amount to a constitutional violation that requires dismissal of an indictment.
The court ruling on Monday reverses a Vermont Supreme Court decision that threw out the assault conviction of Michael Brillon. The state court said Brillon's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial had been violated after he was jailed for three years and went through six defense attorneys before his trial for hitting his girlfriend in the face.
In an opinion by Justice Ruth Ginsburg, the court said taxpayers may pay the bills for a public defender, but the lawyer represents his client, not the state.
"Most of the delay that the Vermont Supreme Court attributed to the state must therefore be attributed to Brillon as delays caused by his counsel," Ginsburg said.
But the court also said the state high court should take another look at whether a breakdown in Vermont's public defender system played a role in Brillon's case and, if so, whether his rights were violated.
Related listings
-
NY appeals court: couple can't have son's sperm
Legal News Center 03/04/2009The parents of a 23-year-old killed by cancer are not entitled to use their dead son's preserved sperm so they can have a grandchild, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The New York state appeals panel issued a unanimous and unprecedented ruling in the ...
-
Court to decide on convict's right to test DNA
Legal News Center 03/02/2009William Osborne, convicted in a brutal attack on a prostitute in Alaska 16 years ago, says a blue condom holds evidence of his innocence or confirmation of his guilt. Either way, he says, the Constitution gives him the right to test the genetic evide...
-
Stevens: No White House oath needed for justices
Legal News Center 02/27/2009Justice John Paul Stevens says future Supreme Court justices shouldn't take their oath of office at the White House. Supreme Court justices take two oaths before assuming the bench. In recent years, several justices took one of the oaths at the White...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.