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Inadmissible
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03-31-2003
Enough Said - Since 2000, Princeton
solo David Perry Davis has been litigating for the right of indigent
child-support delinquents to be appointed counsel if they are facing jail
time. He's been to federal district court and the Third U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals - both of which abstained - and finally to Superior Court in
Mercer County, where last Friday, a judge seemed to signal hope.
During oral argument
in Pasqua
v. Council, Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg said that her ruling would not turn on the
Sixth Amendment, which governs criminal cases, but on Fourteenth Amendment
due process, on which Davis based his case.
Though Feinberg
asked for more briefing on the due process argument by April 4, Davis is
cautiously optimistic, especially since Feinberg mentioned Lassiter v. Dept. of
Social Services, a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court case that recognized
a right to appointed counsel for indigents faced with civil confinement.
Deputy Attorney
General Diane Lamb, who represents the state judiciary, could not
be reached for comment Friday.
— By Charles Toutant,
Jim Edwards, Mary P. Gallagher and Michael Booth
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