Supreme Court Accepts Right-to-Counsel Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a suspect taken before a magistrate has the right to a lawyer.
The issue in Rothgery v. Gillespie County is whether the right to a lawyer does not attach until a prosecutor prepares a formal charge, SCOTUSblog reports. The magistrate at the probable cause hearing had read defendant Walter Rothgery Miranda-like warnings but refused to grant counsel.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled (PDF) in the case that the right to counsel doesn’t accrue until formal prosecution begins.
Rothgery had been mistakenly arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, but a lawyer was not appointed until after his indictment six months later. The arrest was not warranted because previous felony charges against Rothgery had been dismissed after he completed a diversionary program.
Rothgery later sued the county in a civil rights lawsuit.
