This coming Monday, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear two cases concerning how bad advice given by counsel during the plea bargaining stage of the legal process can negatively affect the outcome of a criminal case.
One defendant, Anthony Cooper, shot a woman to death in 2003 and was told by his lawyer during the plea bargaining stage that because all four of his bullets had struck the victim below the waist, he could not be convicted of assault with intent to murder.
After hearing his lawyer’s advice, Cooper elected to refuse the plea bargain offered him of incarceration for four to seven years. Upon conviction, he was sentenced 15 to 30 years in prison and is subsequently arguing that his trial was unfair because of his lawyer’s poor counsel.
The other defendant, Galin Frye, was never told by his lawyer that Missouri prosecutors would accept a guilty plea to a misdemeanor and a 90-day sentence in prison for driving without a license. After the offer was taken off the table before Frye had a chance to review it, he was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.
What the Supreme Court wants to examine is whether or not more regulation should be implemented in the plea bargaining process to ensure that these defendants remain informed of their options and can make educated decisions related to their imposed sanctions.
On the one hand, some sort of regulation should be in place to hold lawyers accountable for their work to ensure that defendants are not gypped out of a fair offer by their hired counsel. Citizens have a right to a competent defense, and the court should make sure of that right.
At the same time, however, clients get what they pay for. They choose to hire their lawyers, they pay for their advice, and they should be prepared to get their money’s worth. At the end of the day, lawyers will only be as good as the amount they charge for the retainer.
Additionally, excessive regulation of plea bargaining would enable those defendants who have little investment and involvement in their cases to take advantage of the system, a quality which should not be perpetuated in our court systems.
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