About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

30 N. Ky. L. Rev. 487 (2003)
Bad Lawyering - How Defense Attorneys Help Convict the Innocent

handle is hein.journals/nkenlr30 and id is 497 raw text is: BAD LAWYERING How DEFENSE ATTORNEYS HELP CONVICT THE INNOCENT by Sheila Martin Berry To 'know thyself must mean to know the malignancy of one's own instincts and to know, as well, one's power to deflect it. - Karl A. Menninger, M.D. (1893-1990).' I. INTRODUCTION At least one-fourth of wrongfully convicted individuals know what bad lawyering is because it put them where they are today, in prison, even on death row.2 Yet those of us who advocate for the wrongfully accused and convicted often fail to recognize our own roles in bad lawyering, perpetuating the problem and its tragic consequences. Bad lawyering is generally understood to mean ineffective assistance of counsel,3 a relatively new concept arising from the Sixth Amendment' right of a criminal defendant to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.5 Guaranteeing persons charged with crimes the right to representation was, in its time, a bold leap forward over English common law, even if counsel proved to be little more than a warm body' with Esquire behind its name.6 0 Sheila Martin Bery is both an author and an advocate. Throughout the 1980s, sheserved as director of prosecutor-based victim-witnmss assistance programs in Wisconsin. Ms. Brry initiated the use of victim impact statements at sentencing hearing and successfully lobbied for the addition of victim impact state ents to Wisconsin's Bill of Riglts for Crime Victims. During this period, Ms. Beny also developed the naion's first Employee Victim Assistac= Program for Wisconsin mental health institions. in 1997, Ms. Bery and her husband, Doug, founded Truth in Justice, an educational non-profit organization concaned with the conviction of innocent people for crimes they did not commit The organization's website at hip//truthinjusticeorg was the first of its kind on the Intemet, and reains the most credible and informative. Books written by Ms. Berry include The Spy Who Never Was (1982, Hearst), Taking Care of ur Own (1988, EAP training manual), My Name i Legion (1999, Amher Books), Getting Ready for Court (1995, Kids Kount Pub.; 2000, Sage Pub.) and Clrcumstantial Evidence: Anatomy ofa Midwestern Murder (sch. 2003, Public Eye Pub.). Her most recent book, Full Circle: How a Veteran Cop was Sentenced to Life In Prison for Crimes That Never Happened, has been optioned for production of a documentary film by Imagery Films, Inc. 1 See Quote Geek, Quotations from Karl Menninger, available at http://www.quotegeek.com/ Literature/MenningerKarl/ (visited Mar. 24, 2003). 2 BARRY SCHECK Er AL., ACTUAL INNOCENCE 263 (1999). 3 MODEL RULiS OF PROFESSIONAL CoN.Ducr 1.1 (1998) (A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client Competmt representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation reasonably necessaiy for the representation.). 4 U.S. CONST. amend. VI. Ild. 6 See Mitchell Simpson, III, A Fair Trial: Are Indigents Charged with Misdemeanors Entitled to Court Appointed Counsel, 5 RoER WIUAMS U. L REv. 417, 425 (2000) (providing that under English common law a person charged with treason or a felony was not entitled to counsel, except

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most