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No Strickland claim against standby counsel

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

When defendant waives counsel and has standby counsel, it appears that he cannot pursue an ineffectiveness claim against standby counsel. Even assuming that he can, he fails to satisfy Strickland here. Gripper v. United States, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55964 (D. N.C. July 2, 2008): Whether Petitioner can even assert an ineffective assistance of counsel claim against standby counsel is suspect since Petitioner waived his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and chose to represent himself during his criminal proceedings. See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 836 (1975). When a defendant does so, the trial court, as it did for Petitioner here, may appoint standby counsel to assist the pro se defendant. Id. at 834 n. 46. However, there is "no constitutional right to hybrid representation," where the defendant "share[s] the duties of conducting [his] defense with a lawyer...continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).