In a divided (5 to 4) vote on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012, in Washington, D.C., the Supreme Court expanded the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution's right to be effective legal counsel.
The Court ruled that if defendants turn down a plea bargain because of incompetent legal advice, their convictions may be avoided.
The rulings, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, recognized the central role that plea bargains now play in the criminal justice system.
While many Americans are familiar with the drama of a contested trial, "the reality is that plea bargains have become...central to the administration of the criminal justice system," Justice Kennedy wrote, joined by the court's four liberals, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
As a result, the majority said, defendants who negotiate pleas require legal assistance on a par with the tiny minority who go to trial.
The justices were ruling on two cases, including one from Missouri in which the defense lawyer didn't tell his client, accused of driving with a revoked license, of a prosecutor's plea offer that could have meant a shorter jail term than he ultimately received.
The second case, from Michigan, concerned a defendant accused of assault with intent to murder. The defendant turned down a prosecutor's offer of a maximum term of about seven years, after his lawyer persuaded him the state couldn't prove his intent to murder because his victim had been shot below the waist. At trial, the defendant was convicted of all counts and sentenced to a minimum term of more than 15 years.
[WSJ, Thursday, 3/22/2012]
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