Summary
Lafler v. Cooper/Missouri v. Frye: Two U. S. Supreme Court cases involving criminal defendants who claim that their convictions should be overturned because they may have been convicted on lesser charges had their defense attorneys not given them bad advice. In 2003 Anthony Cooper was charged with attempted murder for shooting a woman causing serious injury. A police officer witnessed the shooting. Prior to trial, the state offered Cooper a plea bargain carrying a shorter sentence than if he were convicted on all charges. His attorney advised against the deal. Cooper was later convicted by a jury and received the longer sentence. In 2007, Galin Frye was charged with driving with a suspended license, a felony because of his multiple prior convictions. Prior to trial, the prosecutor offered to allow Frye to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and serve 90 days in jail. Frye’s attorney did not report this offer to his client. Later, Frye pled guilty to the original felony charge and received 3 years in prison. In Frye, the state appellate court ruled in favor of the defendant. In Cooper, the state courts rejected the claim but a federal appellate court overturned the judgment. CJLF has joined the high court review of these cases to argue that, while a better attorney might have obtained a more favorable deal, neither criminal was unjustly convicted, and neither is entitled to a second chance for a better result. The Supreme Court allowed the claims to proceed but said that the prisoners will not necessarily get their original plea offers back. The high court left the remedy to the trial judge, who might reinstate the original plea offer or reimpose the same sentence the defendants received before. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
