McCoy v. Louisiana
| McCoy v. Louisiana | ||||
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| Negotiated January 17, 2018 |
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| Decided May 24, 2018 |
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| Certiorari to clarify whether an admission of the defendant's guilt by his lawyer against the express wish of the defendant violates the right to an effective defense by a lawyer under the 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution. | ||||
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| 6. Amendment to the United States Constitution |
McCoy v. Louisiana is a case negotiated in the United States Supreme Court on January 17, 2018, regarding the question of whether an admission of the defendant's guilt by his attorney is acceptable in court if the admission was made against the defendant's express will.
background
Robert McCoy was arrested on May 9, 2008 and charged with the murder of the mother, son and stepfather of his wife, who had been separated from him for a month after an incident of domestic violence . A few days later, a public defender was appointed for McCoy. McCoy pleaded his innocence and declared his intention to plead not guilty. In December 2009, McCoy requested the dismissal of his public defender because, in his opinion, he was not making sufficient efforts to prove his client's innocence. McCoy then hired a new lawyer, who advised him to a mitigating admission of guilt, which McCoy refused. His defense attorney then informed him of his intention to admit McCoy's guilt to the court, although McCoy refuses to do so. He must do this to save McCoy's life, as given the evidence without admission of guilt, the death penalty threatens. A request by McCoy for his defense attorney to be released again was rejected by the court as unjustified in view of the approaching trial date (under US law, an appointed defense attorney can only be released under certain conditions during or shortly before an ongoing trial). The defense attorney then admitted McCoy's guilt against his express will and pleaded for a manslaughter conviction . McCoy was still sentenced to death for murder .
A death sentence can be appealed directly to the state Supreme Court , under the Louisiana Constitution . The appeal was dismissed, however, and the lawyer’s admission of guilt against the will of the accused was deemed lawful. In view of the overwhelming burden of proof against the accused, an admission of guilt as opposed to an ongoing affirmation of innocence was the more promising strategy. Therefore, the appeals court did not see an ineffective defense by the attorney, which would have been a legitimate reason for appeal under US law ( "ineffective assistance of counsel" ). The court also cited the Florida v. Nixon, in which the Supreme Court ruled that an attorney did not require the defendant's explicit consent to admit guilt.
McCoy then appealed to the United States Supreme Court . Unlike in Florida v. Nixon had known the lawyer in his case that he had expressly refused an admission of guilt. The unauthorized admission of the lawyer was therefore to be regarded as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court took the case to final decision.
judgment
The court upheld McCoy's appeal by a majority of 6 of the 9 judges' votes. According to the judgment, the right to an effective defense in criminal proceedings enshrined in the United States' Constitution leaves the defendant with the right to decide on particularly important procedural issues. This concerns in particular the question of whether the guilt of the accused should be admitted. An admission of guilt by the defense lawyer against the express will of the accused violates the 6th amendment to the constitution. The judgments of all lower courts were thus overturned. McCoy receives new lawsuit.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ New York Times October 9, 2017: Facing the Death Penalty With a Disloyal Lawyer , accessed December 14, 2017.
- ↑ Louisiana State Constitution Art. V §5 (D) 2 , accessed December 14, 2017.
- ↑ Legal Information Institute: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel , accessed December 14, 2017.
- ↑ October 19, 2016: Reason for the Louisiana Supreme Court's rejection of the appeal , accessed December 14, 2017.
- ↑ McCoy v. Louisiana: Supreme Court decision of May 24, 2018 , accessed July 19, 2018.