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Cert. grant: Recommendation to withdraw insanity plea (only defense) was ineffective assistance

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Cert grant today: Knowles v. Mirzayance, 07-1315. Short form of the issue from SCOTUSBlog: Whether the defendant’s lawyer’s recommendation to withdraw an insanity plea constituted ineffective assistance of counsel for purposes of federal habeas law. Specifically, the issues are: 1. Did the Ninth Circuit again exceed its authority under § 2254(d) by granting habeas relief without considering whether the state-court adjudication of the claim was "unreasonable" under "clearly established Federal law" based on its previous conclusion that trial counsel was required to proceed with an affirmative insanity defense because it was the only defense available and despite the absence of a Supreme Court decision addressing the point? 2...continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on June 27, 2008 (boomark / email).