Why the right to representation is so important

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Mother Jones recounts a story of a man named Joseph Allen of New Orleans, Louisiana who was falsely accused of murder, but because he was able to obtain legal counsel (due to not being broke) he was able to get the evidence needed to get the charges dropped, at the beginning of this article:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... ial-crisis

This was in Louisiana, which is currently having a crisis of public defenders, resulting in indigent defendants who are kept in jail for several months, often more than a year, without any trial or court date set. The district attorneys and the legislature want judges to press lawyers, most of whom have no experience with criminal trials, into taking up the cases, and give them little or no resources to investigate and prepare the case, forcing them to "wing it" at trial. A case like this has occurred in Louisiana in the past, namely the Glenn Ford case, where an innocent man was on death row for nearly 3 decades for a crime he didn't commit, largely because of inadequate legal defense. Naturally, the lawyers balk at being made to provide ineffective counsel so the state can look like it is protecting the rights of defendants (when it's actually not).

So, let us go back up to the Joseph Allen story. Imagine, if he didn't have the money to pay for a lawyer. What would happen then? Knowing the way things are in New Orleans, he likely would have been kept in jail for several months or more than a year, waiting for legal counsel. His life would be severely disrupted, and he would likely lose his job and be prevented from being part of his child's life. And, remember, he's innocent. When Allen would finally get a lawyer and be able to have an investigation performed on his side, would the surveillance footage still be available? Would he be able to find credible witnesses who could exonerate him? Considering that so much time would have passed, there's a good chance he wouldn't, and he is now stuck with a lawyer who may not have any criminal trial experience, significantly increasing the danger of his being wrongfully convicted of attempted murder, which he didn't commit, and receiving a long prison term.

What the legislature and district attorneys in Louisiana are attempting to do is a travesty, which threatens the very integrity of our criminal justice system.