Denial of Due Process
"Due process" is a phrase that is often thrown around by criminal defense attorneys and is a principle that is quick to spring into the mind of any attorney who is trying to find a solid argument for why his or her client may need a continuance granted in a case, why the client should be entitled to have certain evidence excluded, or why the client should have a conviction overturned. Simply put, the right to due process means that a defendant is entitled to have certain legal rights recognized and observed during the course of a criminal trial. Some of the most important of these rights are the right to a trial by jury in most cases and the right to confront witnesses against the defendant. These rights are usually observed in criminal cases, but when they are not, the defendant may have grounds to get a conviction overturned.
In a recent case called State v. Frazier out of the Court of Criminal Appeals in Jackson, Tennessee, the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the trial court's decision to revoke the defendant's probation because the Court of Appeals found that the defendant was denied due process at the trial court level when the judge denied the defendant the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses for the state or present witnesses and evidence on his own behalf prior to revoking the defendant's bond because the judge had seemingly heard enough to go ahead and enter an order revoking the defendant's bond. While the judge may have indeed already made his mind up, a defendant has the right in any criminal proceeding to present evidence on his own behalf and cross-examine adverse witnesses. Since these rights were denied the defendant, the revocation order could not stand.
Although the courts and judges across the state work very hard and do a great job at trying to ensure that every criminal defendant enjoys all the rights to which he or she is entitled, some defendants do not receive a fair hearing and must then take up the issues on appeal. Having the assistance of skilled criminal defense counsel can help to ensure that East Tennessee criminal defendants receive a fair shake at trial.
Source: State v. Frazier, No. W2010-01657-CCA-MR3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App. 2011)
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