Criminal Procedure: Dressler & Thomas – 3rd Edition
See Also: Condensed Outline Beginning Below (Page 98)
Goals at the Investigative Stage of Criminal Procedure:
1. To obtain evidence that satisfies the standard of probable cause
2. Obtain evidence of proof beyond a reasonable doubt
a. The officer may arrest based on probable cause, but the officer hopes to obtain proof that the person will be held accountable.
Chapter 1: Criminal Process: Failure and Legitimacy
A. FAILURES
Powell v. Alabama; Disorder in the Court
Facts
Nine black youths were illegally riding a train along with other whites, who were also riding illegally. Apparently a fight broke out between the groups, resulting in the black youths throwing the whites off the train at various points. When the train reached Paint Rock, a group of white southerners met the black youths at the train stop with weapons, tied them up, and took them to jail.
Apparently two white women were also on the train, and although one of them later admitted that the black youths had not touched her, she told officers that the group of nine had took turns raping the two women.
The black youths were immediately considered guilty, and their guilt was pronounced through the media, causing uproar in the community.
The juries found the nine defendants guilty and imposed the death penalty upon them all.
Issue
Whether or not the defendants were denied the right of counsel, and if so, whether such denial infringes the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Holding and Reasoning
Yes. The defendants were denied the right of counsel, and this denial infringed upon the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. A defendant should be afforded a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice. The defendants were not accorded the right of counsel in any substantial sense.
In this case, the trials began 6 days after the indictments. Further, counsel had not been named or definitely designated until the morning of trial. The trial judge merely “appointed all the members of the bar” for the “purpose of arraigning the defendants.” This falls short of meeting a requirement for the appointment of counsel. From the time of their arraignment until the beginning of their trial, the defendants did not have the aid of counsel in any real sense. No attempt was made to investigate, and no real opportunity to do so
centralized government.
NOTE
A matter of dispute is what the relationship is between the 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights. Specifically, to what extent, if at all, does the 14th Amendment due process clause “incorporate” the Bill of Rights, so as to make the Bill’s restrictions on federal power applicable to the states?
– This debate has enormous implications:
o At one extreme, if none of the provisions of the Bill of Rights apply to the states, a citizen may be subjected to such things as warrantless entries of the home.
o At the other extreme, if the due process clause incorporates the Bill of Rights in its entirety, the latter clause becomes a national code of criminal procedure; federal and state action would be restricted in an identical manner.
The values of federalism are at stake in this doctrine b/c the broader the scope of the 14th Amendment, the less free the states are to develop their own rules of criminal procedure.
