Angiulo: There is No Sixth Amendment in China

Monday, January 27, 2014

Leonardo Angiulo, GoLocalWorcester Legal Contributor

It turns out that Justin Bieber was not the only one facing a member of the judiciary this past week. In China, a man named Xu Zhiyong spent several days on trial for his role in gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place. Depending on whom you are speaking to this gentleman is either a leading advocate for human rights or an enemy of the state causing disruption and inciting violence. The apparent answer to that question is reflected in the Chinese Court convicting the gentleman and sentencing him to four years in prison.

Of note, is that members of the media and various international organizations disagree not only with the allegations and conviction but also the way in which the trial occurred. Major complaints from the trial focus on the defense attorney's lack of opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, the courtroom being closed to the public and the media, as well as key prosecution witnesses submitting written testimony instead of live statements. Not to mention allegations of members of the international press being physically removed from the courthouse against their will.

To be sure, this column is not the forum to debate whether or not the Chinese Government uses criminal sanctions to silence dissent or provides fair trials by our standards. Nor can we say for certainty whether, or not, Mr. Xu received a fair trial by that country's standards. What this story does present is an opportunity for a comparison between the due process afforded to people in our country and those in other nations. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a single sentence written in common language that stands between us and abject tyranny.

In our system of justice, trials are open to the public. On one hand, this may result in some cases taking on circus like atmospheres. The defendant or prosecutor may even become semi-celebrities for all the wrong reasons. On the other hand, courts that operate in secret engender fear rather than a sense of justice. They turn courtrooms into tools of oppression instead of places where evidence is heard and jurors consider the merit of accusations. These things happen because the Sixth Amendment requires it and the courts honor those mandates.

The Sixth Amendment also requires that a defendant have the opportunity to confront the witnesses against him, present evidence on his own behalf and have an Attorney fighting for him at trial. As a result of these requirements, a conviction cannot typically rest on written statements without the benefit of cross-examination by defense counsel as allegedly occurred in Mr. Xu's case. Functionally, the words of the Sixth Amendment come alive every time a person stands before a jury or a judge and exercises their right to a fair trial. Something that Mr. Xu is said to have been unable to do.

The toughest part about all this is that some people say Mr. Xu's trial was skewed because he asked tough questions about graft, corruption and the denial of education to the children of migrants in China. If true, the gentleman was striving to bring a better life to countless people who cannot fight for themselves. In this case, a good man may be incarcerated without having the opportunity to challenge the evidence against him. And yet, Mr. Bieber will enjoy all the benefits of a full and fair trial to determine whether or not he egged his neighbors house.

Leonardo Angiulo is an Attorney with the firm of Glickman, Sugarman, Kneeland & Gribouski in Worcester handling legal matters across the Commonwealth. He can be reached by email at [email protected] .

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Angiulo: There is No Sixth Amendment in China

Related Slideshow: The Best States in New England

Overall Rankings

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Lowest Unemployment Rate

Lowest Poverty Rate

Highest Home Ownership Rate

Highest Percentage of High School Graduates

Longest Life Expectancy

Lowest Infant Mortality Rate

Lowest Obesity Rate

Highest Reported Wellbeing

Highest Math Scores

Highest Reading Scores

Least Income Inequality

Lowest Crime Rate

Highest Percentage Employed in STEM Jobs

H.L. Mencken and Charles Angoff’s 1931 rankings

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