Cherry v. State

CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr.,

Associate Judge, Specially Assigned (Retired).

The two cases before us, Mary Eloise Cherry v. State, No. 87, September Term, 1985, and Ronald Jackson v. State, No. 121, September Term, 1985, concern the constitutional right of a defendant in a criminal cause to the assistance of counsel. In particular, each case involves the interplay between the organic right of a defendant to be heard through his counsel as to the sufficiency of the evidence and the applicable law before a verdict is rendered, on the one hand, and the procedural requirements established to have a…