- Both the prosecutor and defense attorney are officers of the court who are given authority discharge several duties both within and out of the courtroom
- As court officers, both the prosecutor and defense attorney have support staff such as secretaries and investigators whom they rely on during the investigation of cases to be presented before the court of law (Reyrauch, 2011).
- Both the prosecutor and defense attorneys have powers to participate in the investigation of a case. This is done by interviewing evidence, analyzing the crime scenes and police reports to determine their credibility and validity before the commencement of the case
- Whereas the defense attorney is mainly concerned about protecting the rights of the accused person, the prosecutor is concerned about the discharge of a fair and just verdict to both the defendant and plaintiff (Geoffrey & Angelo, 2000).
- Unlike the defense attorney, the prosecutor is charged with the responsibility of providing the court with all the necessary information about the accused person’s background, history, criminal and conviction records for determination. The defense attorney does not do this, but only represents the accused person to ensure hat he or she gets justice
- While the prosecutor is charged with the responsibility of bringing the case before the court and helping the court to prove that the offence was committed by the accused person, the defense attorney does not have such powers (Ring, 2004).
- Unlike the prosecutor, the attorney have powers to appropriately guide their client to accept a plea and decide to accept if the case should be settled out the court or proceed with it to the court of law
- The prosecutor has powers to help the court to avoid making any errors that might necessitate the appealing of the case (Robert, 2005). Although the defense attorney does not do that, they also have powers to act as law enforcers to ensure that the rights of the accused person are not infringed by the officers during arrest
References
Geoffrey C. H. & Angelo D. (2000) Legal Ethics: A Comparative Study. Stanford: Stanford
Orth, J. (2003). Due Process of Law: A Brief History. University Press of Kansas.
Reyrauch, W. (2011) The Personality of Lawyers. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ring, K. (2004). Scalia Dissents: Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest, Most Outspoken
Justice. Washington: Regnery.
Robert, M. I (2005). "Privately Funded Prosecution of Crime in the Nineteenth-Century United
States". The American Journal of Legal History (Temple University) 39 (1): 43–58.
