Controversial Issue: Link to the 2017 report from the Oregon Public Defense Services about indigent 
representation in Oregon 
https://www.oregon.gov/opds/commission/reports/EDAnnualReport2017.pdf 
Link to the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association 
http://www.nlada.org/ 
Link to the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association 
https://www.ocdla.org/ 
The Right to Counsel in Federal Trials 
The Court in Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458 (1938), held that in all federal felony, trials counsel must 
represent a defendant unless the defendant waives that right. The Court further held that the lack of counsel 
is a jurisdictional error which would render, or make, the defendant’s conviction void. A court that allows 
a defendant to be convicted without an attorney’s representation has no power or authority to deprive an 
accused of life or liberty. 
6 
Zerbst also established rules for a proper waiver of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The court said 
that it is presumed that the defendant has not waived her right to counsel. For a waiver to be constitutional, 
the court must find that the defendant knew he or she had a right to counsel and voluntarily gave up that 
right, knowing that he or she had the right to claim it. Therefore, if the defendant silently goes along with 
the court process without complaining about the lack of counsel, his or her silence does not amount to a 
waiver. The Court defined waiver as an “intelligent relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or 
privilege”. 
In 1945 Congress passed the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (FRCP).  Rule 44 of the FRCP requires 
defendants to have counsel, or affirmatively waive counsel, either retained or appointed, at every stage of 
the proceedings from the initial appearance through appeal. This rule was difficult to implement because 
there was no recognized federal defense bar, or federal defense attorneys, available or willing to take on 
appointed cases. So, in 1964, Congress passed the Criminal Justice Act of 1964 that established a national 
system for providing counsel to indigent defendants in federal courts. 
6. Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458 (1938) 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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