Even if the parties have pleaded guilty and punished the defender, they can still insist on the defense of innocence unless the parties explicitly revoke the authorization of the defender. Lawyers' right to defense comes from the authorization of the parties, but they remain relatively independent from the date of accepting the entrustment. According to the provisions of Article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Law, "the duty of a defender is to provide materials and opinions on whether a criminal suspect or defendant is innocent, given a lighter punishment or reduced his criminal responsibility according to facts and laws, and to safeguard the litigation rights and other legitimate rights and interests of the criminal suspect or defendant", which is the basic basis of the lawyer's independent defense right.
The role of lawyers can be:
1. Accept the entrustment of a natural person, legal person or other organization as a legal adviser.
2. Accept the entrustment of the parties in civil cases and administrative cases, act as agents and participate in litigation.
3. Accept the entrustment of criminal suspects and defendants in criminal cases or the assignment of legal aid agencies as defenders, and accept the entrustment of private prosecutors in private prosecution cases, victims in public prosecution cases or their close relatives as agents to participate in litigation.
4. Accept the entrustment and represent the complaints of various litigation cases; Accept the entrustment and participate in mediation and arbitration activities.
5. Accept the entrustment and provide non-litigation legal services; Answer legal advice, write litigation documents and other documents related to legal affairs.
Legal basis:
Code of practice for lawyers in handling criminal cases
Article 5
As defenders, lawyers should independently perform their defense duties according to law.
Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 278
In a case where the defendant pleads guilty, after confirming that the defendant knows the criminal facts and charges charged in the indictment, voluntarily pleads guilty and knows the legal consequences of pleading guilty, the court investigation can mainly focus on controversial issues such as sentencing.
In a case where the defendant does not plead guilty or the defender does not plead guilty, the court investigation shall find out the relevant sentencing facts on the basis of finding out the conviction facts.
law of advocate
Article 31
When acting as a defender, a lawyer shall, according to facts and laws, put forward materials and opinions on whether the criminal suspect or defendant is innocent, the crime is light or the criminal responsibility is reduced or exempted, and safeguard the litigation rights and other legitimate rights and interests of the criminal suspect or defendant.