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im sure this lady is going to have to pay out the for lawyer fees, when she should know every american citizen who is protected under the constitution has the right to appear before a judge without a lawyer and act in their own defense.
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Everyone does indeed have the RIGHT to defend themselves, but very few really have the ABILITY. You can read all the books on Constitutional law you can find and you still might not be capable of defending yourself. As stated above, the judge was doing the woman a favor by telling her to get her son representation. I've seen lots of folks try to defend themselves in court by pleading not guilty and then going up against the prosecutor and police officer in municipal court and then going down in flames.
As far as the judges and lawyers being in cahoots, well, remember: Judges ARE lawyers. They know each other, they play golf together and all that. But judges are NOT ALLOWED to recommend lawyers. That's not to say that if one of their comrades appears before them they won't be treated a little better than the guy who tries to represent themselves.
It's not always the best system, but it beats what other countries have going on. Best way to appreciate it is not to get caught up in it in the first place.