Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Law Of Criminal Defense

Criminal Law

: Law Of Criminal Defense

PD having to argue own ineffectiveness was a conflict

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant moved to set aside his guilty plea for burglary which was to be concurrent to a federal sentence. After his plea, the USMS refused to take custody of the defendant, and that led to the motion to withdraw the plea. The motion of necessity involved a claim his public defender was ineffective. The public defender had a conflict of interest in arguing her own ineffectiveness. State v. Toney, 97,326 (Kan. App. July 11, 2008): With regard to the first question, we are persuaded that Toney's public defender had divided loyalties at the hearing. Her purported ineffectiveness in investigating Toney's case prior to the plea was critical to her client's motion to withdraw plea. In order to faithfully and effectively represent Toney at the hearing, the public defender would be obligated to advocate and prove her own professional ineffectiveness...continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on July 12, 2008 (boomark / email).