(DOWNLOAD) "Opportunity Lost? the Ineffective Assistance Doctrine's Applicability to Foregone Plea Bargains." by Suffolk University Law Review * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Opportunity Lost? the Ineffective Assistance Doctrine's Applicability to Foregone Plea Bargains.
- Author : Suffolk University Law Review
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 318 KB
Description
Imagine a criminal defendant accused of a serious felony. His defense counsel arrives woefully unprepared for the first day of trial. There is little hope of receiving a continuance as the presiding judge denied all previous requests. The charges carry the potential for a life sentence, but there is a plea bargain offer on the table that will allow the defendant to serve considerably less time. What is such a defendant to do--take the plea with certain results or risk going to trial with an attorney unprepared for the task? Later, the same defendant who accepted the plea bargain files a petition for a writ of habeas corpus claiming that ineffective assistance of counsel rendered his decision to accept the plea involuntary. Will the court grant the defendant's petition? (1) Now imagine a similar scenario; however, the attorney arrives ready for trial. She recommends that the defendant reject the plea bargain because the prosecution will not be able to establish a key element of the crime.