What rights does a defendant have to counsel at trial?

The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides a defendant with the right to counsel. The "Due Process Clauses" entitles a defendant to a fair trial. The constitution defines the parameters of a fair trial "largely through the several provisions of the Sixth Amendment." (Strickland v. Washington (1984) 466 U.S. 668, 685.) "Thus, a fair trial is one in which evidence subject to adversarial testing is presented to an impartial tribunal for resolution of issues defined in advance of the proceeding. The right to counsel plays a crucial role in the adversarial system embodied in the Sixth Amendment, since access to counsel's skill and knowledge is necessary to accord

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defendants the 'ample opportunity to meet the case of the prosecution' to which they are entitled." (Ibid.)

A defendant is entitled to have counsel appointed to represent him or her if he or she cannot afford to retain counsel. (Strickland v. Washington, supra, 466 U.S. at p. 685.) Not only is a defendant entitled to counsel, he or she is entitled to effective assistance of that counsel. (Id. at p. 686.) Counsel may be ineffective by failing to render adequate legal assistance. (Ibid.) "A convicted defendant's claim that counsel's assistance was so defective as to require reversal of a conviction or death sentence has two components. First, the defendant must show that counsel's performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the 'counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. Unless a defendant makes both showings, it cannot be said that the conviction or death sentence resulted from a breakdown in the adversary process that renders the result unreliable." (Id. at p. 687.)