NCJ Number
155517
Journal
San Diego Justice Journal Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1995) Pages: 127-175
Date Published
1995
Length
49 pages
Annotation
This article describes the generally applicable Model Rules concerning client control over litigation objectives and the generally prescribed roles of the lawyer as representative of the client's expressed wishes, officer of the court, and public citizen.
Abstract
The focus of the article, however, is in the application of these Rules to the particular circumstances of capital litigation, and even more specifically, to the situation in which a lawyer attempts, because of personal ethical standards, to block the client's wish to be executed. The author suggests that the lawyer may be justified in taking certain protective measures on behalf of the client when the lawyer reasonably believes that the client is not competent to make the decision to choose execution. In fact, the very expression of a wish to be executed may raise the issue of competence. Persuasion is presented as the best first measure to obstruct a client's wish to be put to death, and these protective measures are applied in a hypothetical case study. 195 notes