Tag Archive for: right to legal counsel

Justice Sotomayor Criticizes Supreme Court For Failing to Intervene in Texas Death-Row Prisoner’s Case – The Death Penalty Information Center
Over a strong dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor (pictured), the United States Supreme Court on June 4 declined to review the case of Texas condemned prisoner Carlos Trevino, who had argued that his lawyer was ineffective for failing to investigate…

McCoy v. Louisiana: New Challenges for Defenders, New Risks for the Mentally Ill – The George Washington Law Review
In Florida v. Nixon, Justice Ginsburg wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court that a defense lawyer who conceded his client’s guilt as a strategic tactic was not ineffective because the defendant had remained “unresponsive” to his lawyer’s…

Deaf, Mute and Accused of Murder, an Undocumented Immigrant Has Been in Legal Limbo for 12 Years – The Washington Post
Oswaldo Martinez is accused of raping and murdering a 16-year-old in 2005. However, due to his extremely limited ability to communicate—Martinez has been deaf and mute since birth—he has been declared incompetent to stand trial. Despite…