High court: Counsel right extended to expired plea deals

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A criminal defendant could assert an ineffective assistance of counsel claim with respect to plea deals that his lawyer failed to communicate to him before they expired, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.

The decision vacates a ruling from the Missouri Court of Appeals.

The defendant was charged with driving with a revoked license. Be­cause of three prior convictions for the same offense, he faced a maxi­mum four-year prison term. The prosecutor sent the defendant’s lawyer two plea offers, one of which included an offer to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and recommend a 90-­day sentence. Counsel did not convey the offers to the defendant and they ex­pired.

Less than a week before the defendant’s preliminary hearing, he was again arrested for driving with a revoked license. Without the benefit of the underlying plea agreement, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison.

The defendant filed for post-conviction relief, alleging his counsel’s failure to inform him of the earlier plea offers denied him the effective assistance of counsel.

The state argued that the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel did not apply in this context.

But the Court held that “as a general rule, defense counsel has the duty to communicate formal offers from the prosecution to accept a plea on terms and conditions that may be favorable to the accused. … When defense counsel allowed the offer to expire without advising the defendant or allowing him to consider it, defense counsel did not render the effective assistance the Constitution requires.”

The Court remanded the case to the state court to determine whether the defendant could show prejudice from his lawyer’s breach of duty.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a dissent, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr.

U.S. Supreme Court. Missouri v. Frye, No. 10-444. March 21, 2012.