.....snipped for focus .......
6. the suspect's current legal team will be willing to continue offering free consultations when necessary in future if their withdrawal request is approved by the court.The court has scheduled a hearing on September 8, 2017 to decide whether to agree their request.
Assuming all is true i just wanted to comment about court procedures about this part. I have no real understanding of how all this works and just found some things strange.
I always found it strange how the lawyer has to ask for permission to be removed from representing a client like this.
I think it was the Jodi Arias case where her lawyer also was requesting to be off the case and I think in that case he was denied and forced to continue to represent her.
The rules about this are strange to me and I guess it gets into complex things like how long has the lawyer already been representing the client or whether there is time to allow a change.
I suppose there are good reasons to have these types of rules.
The bottom line to me though is if the lawyer doesnt want to represent a client OR the client doesnt want a particular lawyer then I would think it should be granted a change because it seems like it would open the door for appeals.
For example if a client is not getting along with the lawyer or visa versa then how can the client get good representation if the relationship is ruined. There would be no incentive for the lawyer to do a good job for them.
Or a better example is if the defendent cannot pay for the lawyers fees then why should the lawyer be forced to keep representing them?
I have no idea how all this works and just find it strange that laywers have to ask permission to be removed.
My guess is things tend to work themselves out and Judges probably grant replacements for valid situations like no ability to pay.
I also see a good reason to have some of these rules. One good reason is it prevents a client from asking for a change right near the end of a trial just to postpone a verdict. If they did not have rules like this, then any defendent that knew he was going to lose a trial would just keep asking for a lawyer change right near the end of the trial.
So there are probably very good reasons why rules like this are in place.