News, Pleadings
David Nathanson
Public Trial Amicus Brief

On March 6, 2017, Attorney Wood and a team of attorneys from Ropes & Gray filed a brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Weaver v. Massachusetts, No. 16-240. They argue that the Court should not shy away from vindicating the treasured right to a public trial. The government's argument that vindicating the right to a public trial would "open up the floodgates" is both factually incorrect and diverts attention from the real issue: whether our Constitution entitles everyone to a public trial. Read the brief here.

Counsel of Choice

Amicus Brief: Defendant Has Right to Know His Attorney Was Not Appointed, Not Paid

On October 15, Attorney Wood filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of the Cato Institute in Commonwealth v. Francis. In this case, trial counsel volunteered to serve as Mr. Francis's pro bono counsel without telling Mr. Francis that he was not being paid because the trial judge refused to appoint trial counsel as not qualified to handle murder cases. We argue that depriving Mr. Francis of this crucial information was a violation the right to choice of counsel and resulted in structural error requiring automatic reversal.