Legal Malpractice Public defender

[guestpost]

If a pd does not properly defend a person are they liable

 

[cbg]

Whose determination of "not properly defending" are we using here? The State Bar's? The judge's? The DA's? The Public Defender's office? Or the defendent?

I'm guessing the defendent.

Next question - what do you think the PD should have done that he didn't do?

 

[Peapod]

Let's say, the pd had witnesses to testify on defenders behalf, but, failed to call them in and the testimonies would had justified the defendants case. Since the witnesses was not called--the defendant gets 5 yrs. in prison.

 

[cbg]

Once again, in whose opinion would the testimonies have cleared the defendent? Was the evidence admissable under law? Had the judge blocked questioning along that line? In the professional opinion of the PD, would the testimony have done more harm than good?

(Many lay people often have the idea that if their lawyer would just do things their way, everything will be rosy and perfect, where the lawyer, who knows what is and is not admissable and has a better idea than the defendant what trouble can lead from an imperfectly designed line of questioning. They didn't go to law school for several years for nothing.)

 

[mightymoose]

This is one of the recent phantom posts, I believe.