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SCOTUS takes up two plea bargaining cases and another ACCA

By Douglas A. Berman

Big late Friday news for sentencing fans from the US Supreme Court, as the Justices decided to add three new criminal cases to its docket. Here is an effective description of the new cases from this post at SCOTUSblog: In two cases, which involve a related issue but will be heard separately, the Court will be deciding whether an individual who rejects a plea offer from prosecutors because the lawyer advised that course has a claim for ineffective legal assistance if that advice was either flawed or produced a less favorable outcome than if the individual had gone to trial. In agreeing to hear state officials? appeals in Leflar v. Cooper (10-209) and Missouri v. Frye (10-444), the Court told counsel in both to brief and argue an additional question: ?What remedy, if any, should be provided for ineffective assistance of counsel during plea bargain negotiations if the defendant was later convicted and sentenced pursuant to constitutionally adequate procedures?? Presumably, the Court will hear the two cases in back-to-back arguments...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 07, 2011 (boomark / email).