Arkansas Criminal Defense Blog ©

There is a story this morning on the unique enemy combatant case of Ali Al-Marri. (posted here. you will need windows media player or real audio).

Ali Al-Marri is a unique enemy combatant case in that Mr. All-Marri was picked up in the United States, not in the battlefield. It is going up before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for argument today. For a great summary of the history of the case see this Washington Post article.

What I did want to focus on was a comment taken in the interview by NPR. Former Assistant United States Attorney David Laufman commented on the importance of being able to designate someone an enemy combatant (I hope you are shocked):

“On the other hand, Laufman says, if the case depends on hearsay evidence, or testimony that came out under coercion, or evidence that would compromise sensitive intelligence sources and methods then the government may not be able to try the person in criminal court, so the president goes the enemy combatant route.”

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A longtime Colorado criminal defense attorney, Charles Leidner, has been arrested for intimidation of a witness in Colorado. The defense attorney was defending a client on a sexual assault case.

It is too early to tell the fairness of the allegations. The defense attorney for Leidner stated:

“The accusations here involve egregious undercover efforts by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to intimidate a defense attorney who was doing his best to represent a client in a difficult case.”

Story here at Channel 7 in Denver, CO.

I will follow up this story when more information becomes available. I would be glad to take comments on those who practice in Colorado.

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Many people, of all occupations, are driven to do their job well. Public defenders specifically, have the sacred duty of defending the indigent in criminal matters.

An Ohio judge sanctioned a public defender for being unwilling to go to trial when the public defender only had two and a half hours to prepare. The president of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Carmen Hernandez, stated that:

“For the scales of justice to be balanced, both the prosecution and the defense must be prepared,” Hernandez said. “Asking a lawyer to go to trial without preparation is like asking a doctor to perform surgery before diagnosing the patient. Harm is inevitable.”

Click here for link.

The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right……to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”

The moral of the story:

We cannot allow inconvenience and our drive-thru Bic Mac mentality to interfere with our constitutional rights.

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