7.16 Defendant's counsel

If someone wants to take depositions in a criminal case and the defendant doesn't have a lawyer, the court has to step in. The judge must tell the defendant that they have the right to a lawyer for this process.

The court will then appoint a lawyer to represent the defendant. This happens automatically unless one of two things is true: the defendant says they want to handle it themselves without a lawyer, or the defendant is able to hire their own lawyer.

This rule exists to protect defendants during the deposition process. Depositions can affect how a case turns out, so the court makes sure defendants have legal help unless they clearly choose otherwise or already have someone representing them.