What are the consiquenses when a trial attorney and the DA have an affiar during the trial -that ends guilty
DA and Def Attorney have affair during a criminal trial and the defendant is found guilty are there any avenues of relief for the defendant?
Answers:
There are two separate issues involved here. One is a bar ethics question which does not really give relief to a defendant. Depending on the rules in a particular state, the DA and the defense attorney may be subject to discipline for not withdrawing from the case.
The separate issue is whether defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel. I do not believe that the fact that the defense attorney was having an affair with the DA would result in an automatic finding of ineffective assistance of counsel. However, it could be evidence tending to demonstrate that the failure to take certain steps during the defense of the case was for illegitimate reasons rather than justifiable reasons.
In most states, there is a mechanism for raising claims of ineffective assistance on appeal or in a "collateral review." If you know the defendant and you believe that there was such an affair, you should contact his appellate attorney and have him discuss this issue with the defendant so that they can determine how to best raise it. If he is still represented by the same attorney, he needs to get a new one.
NO if they are guilty, the partners of those involved may meter out some summary justice though.
You can report it to the Bar Association, if they did anything wrong the Bar Associating will take action against them.
This really is a loaded question. First of all it is UNETHICAL although many laywers will disagree with that. The affair should wait till AFTER the case. As for any appeal relief, you would have to prove that the affair affected your case to the extent that it had an adverse affect on the verdict.
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