I was busy at the judges’ and prosecutors’ conferences this week, but somehow, the world didn’t stop turning. Among the week’s top stories: A new edition of the North Carolina Defender Manual, Vol. 1, Pretrial, is now available. Word to the wise: the manual isn’t just useful for defense attorneys. It offers detailed coverage of legal issues that may be of interest to prosecutors, officers, judges, and others. A view-only pdf is available for free here, while a hard copy is available for purchase here. Congratulations to my colleagues John Rubin and Alyson Grine for finishing the new edition. Does a defense lawyer need to meet his client to provide adequate representation? Speaking of defenders, the state supreme court in New Jersey just issued an interesting opinion, according to this Atlantic article. It begins, “In State v. Terrence Miller, four justices of the state supreme court—over a lone dissent—affirmed the conviction of a man indicted on drug charges who met his lawyer for the first time for a few minutes in a stairwell at the courthouse on the morning of trial. The lawyer had not tried a criminal case in seven years and had been appointed to Miller’s case only four days before trial. He never spoke to any witnesses, or to Miller’s former attorney, or to investigators in the public defender’s office. He didn’t know what his client would say on the witness stand.” The lawyer did move for a continuance, but it was denied. The article goes on to question more generally whether enough [...]
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