ABA Urges Supreme Court To Find Right To Effective Assistance Of Counsel At The Criminal Plea Stage

Dykema lawyers Jill Wheaton and Mark Magyar filed, on behalf of the American Bar Association, an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the respondents in the companion cases of Blaine Lafler v. Anthony Cooper and State of Missouri v. Galin Edward Frye. In the brief, the ABA urges the court to uphold the lower courts’ rulings that a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel at the plea stage. Citing standards for competent representation in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the ABA Criminal Justice Standards, the ABA argues that subsequent constitutionally sufficient proceedings do not remedy a violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights at the critical plea stage. The filing was featured in the ABA Journal’s coverage of the matter on July 25, 2011.