Lawyer Ineffective for Telling Client to REJECT Plea Offer

 In the Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas, located in San Antonio, the Court recently had a meaningful occasion to consider a variation on the normal type of claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel in the context of plea negotiations. In this case, the lawyer provided ineffective assistance by telling a client to reject a plea offer.

Findings of violations of the right to effective assistance of counsel are usually based on failure to investigate, prepare for trial, or being unfamiliar with basic rules. These problems normally become evident at trial, after a plea bargain has been rejected. Thus, when they are raised in the plea bargain context, it is normally because the lawyer should not have told the defendant to take the plea offer.

The defendant was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault of a child. In the pre-trial proceedings, the prosecution offered the defendant a plea bargain: ten years in prison. https://askcompetentlawyer.com/civil-litigation/ Based on his attorney's highly questionable advice that it would be easy to win an acquittal, the defendant declined the plea bargain. The case went to trial, a jury found the defendant guilty, and he was given eight life sentences and one twenty-year sentence.

On appeal, the defendant argued that he received ineffective assistance of counsel during the plea bargaining stage. He argued that his attorney provided ineffective assistance when he recommended rejecting the plea offer. He stated that, had his attorney provided effective assistance, he would have accepted the plea bargain and would only have been sentenced to ten years in prison.

After trial, the defendant's trial counsel signed a sworn statement that admitted his ineffectiveness and incompetence; the lawyer was hired on the case, but he clearly lacked the degree of expertise that was needed. The court found that there was a reasonable probability that the defendant would have accepted the ten-year plea bargain if not for his attorney's incompetent advice. The court also found that the prosecution and the trial judge would have probably also accepted the plea bargain. Therefore, it sent the case back to the trial court with orders that the prosecution offer the original ten-year plea bargain.