If a criminal defendant is informed by his defense counsel to reject a plea-bargain and go to trial under the advice that the facts giving rise to the charges wouldn't support the length of the prison term offered in the plea deal, and the defendant accepts the advice, goes to trial, and is convicted of a much lengthier prison term than that offered under the plea deal, did he receive ineffective assistance of counsel? Yes, according to Justice Kennedy writing for the majority in the recent case Lafler v. Cooper. Hadley Arkes at Right Reason (link no longer available), notes in…
|Eric Kaufmann, Eugene Volokh, Hadley Arkes, John Murray, Jordan Ballor, Lafler v. Cooper, Point of Law, Rob Cordray, Vanderbilt religious student group policy
