U.S. Supreme Court 06-06-11
by: Grapkoch • June 5, 2011 • no comments
Read the full article for details about the following new cases:
- A Right to Effective Assistance of PCR Counsel?
In a fairly exciting development, the Supreme Court announced today that is was accepting certiorari in the case of Martinez v. Ryan, which asks
whether a defendant in a state criminal case who is prohibited by state law from raising on direct appeal any claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, but who has a state-law right to raise such a claim in a first post-conviction proceeding, has a federal constitutional right to effective assistance of first post-conviction counsel specifically with respect to his ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim.
In the opinion below, the Ninth Circuit answered in the negative: "We have already concluded that there is no right to the assistance of post-conviction counsel in connection with a state petition for post-conviction relief, such as Martinez asserts in this case. Without a right to the appointment of counsel, there can be no right to the effective assistance of counsel." So, next term we'll likely get a chance to see if the Supremes agree with that proposition.
More information can be found at the SCOTUSblog case page, available here.
