alt.lawyers

1. There should be national guaranteed legal care insurance,
just as there is in many countries for healthcare. The law is too
important to the health of a nation to allow low-income people to be
disadvantaged in legal matters, regarding especially criminal cases.
The public defenders office cannot do an adequate job because it is
underfunded.

2. No defendant, regardless of financial status, should be allowed to
hire a private attorney in criminal matters. We already know this
situation does not work, since it allows wealthy defendants guilty of
double premeditated murder to be acquitted while poor defendants are
convicted. All criminal defense counsel will be appointed and paid
for by the state.

3. Judges and attorneys now holding private meetings in the
judge's chambers. This is an invitation to corruption, and denies
the
principle of an accountable court, since no court reporter, jury, or
member of the press is allowed into such meetings. Cameras and
microphones must be placed in the chambers of all judges, and no
private meetings concerning cases should be permitted. Judges and
attorneys in court are paid by the people and they are disposing of
the lives and property of the people, so no secrecy should be allowed
by officers of the court.

4. Jury selection needs to be reformed. We need to look at how the
registrar of voters is selecting jury candidates. Can juries be
culled from only conservative or liberal precincts, thus ensuring
guilty or innocent votes? Moreover, questions asked of jurors during
jury empanelment are intrusive and unnecessary for fair juries. A
judge never needs to ask a prospective juror if she is sleeping with
anyone. The purpose of such questions is not to ensure a fair jury
but
to make sure the jury is docile and obedient to the judge, which is
not what a jury is meant to be.

Juries are not representative of the American people, but only of
people selected from voter registration rolls. Only 39% of Americans
vote in election meaning that at least 61% do not. This casts doubt
on the voter registration rolls as a valid source of a "jury of one's
peers."

5. Defendants are sacrificing their rights when they are interviewed
by numerous governments employees. This occurs when a suspect is
arrested by police even in spite of the Miranda law. Defendants are
also questioned without an attorney present when they are in custody
by agents of the district attorney. An attorney representing the
rights of the suspect-defendant must be present at all contact between
any employee or agent of the government.

6. District attorneys make public statements to the press concerning
ongoing or pending cases all the time. Often district attorneys defame
defendants in public before trial has begun. This must be stopped. No
district or government employee should be allowed to make any comment
to the press concerning a defendant. After a trial has been resolved,
they should be constrained from making any comment on the defendant
except what has been concluded by the court.

7. District attorneys violate the Disclosure law all the time. The
Disclosure law states that any information suggesting a defendant's
innocence, that the district attorney comes into possession of, must
be disclosed to the defense attorney. A violation of this law by a
government official is an act of treason. The penalty for treason is
the death penalty.


The message from the Maverick Party, USA.