In three cases since 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court has seemingly strengthened the chronically anemic right to effective assistance of counsel. Padilla v. Kentucky, the first in the trilogy, indicated that defense lawyers must in some circumstances provide accurate information to their clients regarding the deportation consequences of a conviction. The Court then followed Padilla with decisions in Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye that reaffirmed and clarified the right to effective assistance in plea bargaining. (See my post here.)
Inspired by these decisions, Cecelia Klingele and I put together an issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter devoted to recent legal developments affecting the right to counsel. The issue is now out in print.
The issue includes commentary from several of the nation’s most astute observers of criminal procedure; the contents appear after the jump. I do have a few extra copies on hand and would be happy to forward them gratis to any interested readers of this blog. Just email me your mailing address (michael.ohear@marquette.edu).
EDITOR’S OBSERVATIONS
Cecelia Klingele, Vindicating the Right to Counsel
ARTICLES
Heather Baxter, Too Many Clients, Too Little Time: How States Are Forcing Public Defenders to Violate Their Ethical Obligations
Erica Hashimoto, Abandoning Misdemeanor Defendants
Lauren Sudeall Lucas, Unintended Consequences: The Impact of the Court’s Recent Cases on Structural Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims
Michael M. O’Hear, Bypassing Habeas: The Right to Effective Assistance Requires Earlier Supreme Court Intervention in Cases of Attorney Incompetence
COMMENTARY ON LAFLER V. COOPER AND MISSOURI V. FRYE
John H. Blume, Plea Bargaining and the Right to the Effective Assistance of Counsel: Where the Rubber Hits the Road in Capital Cases
Josh Bowers, Lafler, Frye,and the Subtle Art of Winning by Losing
Darryl K. Brown, Lafler, Frye and Our Still-Unregulated Plea Bargaining System
Gabriel J. Chin, Federalism and a Fantasy of Full Enforcement: Justice Scalia on Plea Bargaining
Cara H. Drinan, Lafler and Frye: Good News for Public Defense Litigation
Donald A. Dripps, Plea Bargaining and the Supreme Court: The End of the Beginning?
Meredith J. Duncan, Lafler and Frye: Strickland Revitalized?
Carissa Byrne Hessick, Proving Prejudice for Ineffective Assistance Claims After Frye