|
Sui - you missed the point - the suggestion is for "criminal" law, and Ben's advice is sound. The very few criminal cases where a judge finally allows some fool to represent himself almost always end up with either incarceration or incarceration and then an appeal.
As for "rights" being taken, you're trying to count the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin. Call it whatever you like, many of your "rights" are out of your reach, unavailable, compromised, gone, etc., when you're convicted of a crime.
For example, even in a probationary status if you're not imprisoned, you may not have the "right" to live where you want for some period of time. You may not have the right to own or purchase a firearm. If you're convicted of financial crimes, you may no longer have the right to choose that as a career. If you drove a vehicle for a living, you may not have the "right" to choose that as a profession any more. Those are not priveleges - those are rights non-criminals have.
Some or all of those rights may be restored post-release, but the risk of losing them, even temporarily, is far too great to leave your future in your own hands at trial.
|