Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Yesterday’s blog discussed the United States Supreme Court holding in Faretta v. California that a defendant in a criminal trial has a constitutional right to self-representation. Yesterday’s blog also noted that it is very often a bad idea for defendants to forego either hiring an East Tennessee criminal defense attorney or accepting the assistance of a public defender in favor of representing themselves. The reasons for this are plentiful and will be the subject of the next few blogs on this site.

One of the primary reasons a defendant should not choose self-representation at trial is that the rules of evidence are extremely complex and often vary depending on the jurisdiction. These rules govern how evidence is introduced and admitted at trial, how witnesses can be questioned, how evidence issues are preserved for appeal, how to qualify witnesses as experts, and a multitude of other evidentiary issues that may arise during a trial. The importance of a thorough knowledge of these rules can be seen from the fact that the judge in Farettai reversed his ruling and ordered that the defendant be represented by an attorney after the defendant did not demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge of the rules of evidence at a pretrial hearing. After all, what could possibly be more important in a criminal trial than knowing how and when to introduce favorable or exculpatory evidence and to keep your opponent from doing the same.

Trying to gain a working knowledge of these rules prior to trial would prove overwhelming for most criminal defendants. The criminal trial process can add a lot of anxiety and stress to a defendant’s life, which would complicate the process of preparing for self-representation even further. Often it would be a better course of action to rely on an experienced criminal defense attorney who has not only studied the rules of evidence thoroughly and knows how to use them, but also has experience applying those rules to real-life situations during the course of a criminal trial.