Posted on 05/14/2018 1:27:47 PM PDT by Mariner
On Monday, a divided Supreme Court said a court in a Louisiana murder case couldn’t accept a lawyer’s admission of his own client’s guilt over his client’s objections.
In McCoy v. Louisiana, the Court considered a basic question about the proper role of attorneys in murder cases. Robert McCoy originally filed his own appeal directly to the Supreme Court about two questions related to his conviction on three murder charges. McCoy was sentenced to death in the case.
McCoy was accused of killing three people in 2008 in a dispute with his then-wife and he was arrested after fleeing to Idaho. McCoy clashed with public defenders, briefly represented himself, and then hired an attorney, Larry English, to argue his case.
The client and his attorney disagreed about McCoy’s defense strategy, and English told the court he had doubts about McCoy’s competency due to “severe mental and emotional issues. During trial, English introduced a defense that conceded McCoy’s role in the killings as a tactic to avoid the death penalty, by stressing McCoy’s mental condition. Under testimony, McCoy insisted he wasn’t guilty and he was the victim of a conspiracy. The jury found McCoy guilty of three first-degree murder counts. The jury then recommended the death penalty.
In the 6-3 decision, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the trial court should not have accepted English’s concession of guilt for his client.
“Larry English was placed in a difficult position; he had an unruly client and faced a strong government case. He reasonably thought the objective of his representation should be avoidance of the death penalty,” Ginsburg said. “But McCoy insistently maintained: ‘I did not murder my family.’ Once he communicated that to court and counsel, strenuously objecting to English’s proposed strategy, a concession of guilt should have been off the table.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
“Since English didn’t really admit McCoy’s guilt in trial court.”
In his opening statement he said his client killed them.
“It PAINS me to say it, but I think Ginsberg was right on this one. “
just seems like plain ol’ common sense that an accused’s lawyer can’t declare him guilty to the court when the accused declares to the court that his plea is not guilty ...
“just seems like plain ol’ common sense that an accused’s lawyer can’t declare him guilty to the court when the accused declares to the court that his plea is not guilty ...”
Sometimes research over-rides plain ol’ common sense. The dude was playing the system right and left. This was just one.
The record clearly reveals the defendant’s awareness of Mr. English’s trial strategy, to avoid the death penalty by conceding guilt and seeking a life sentence, some eight months prior to July 12, 2011.22 Thus, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by denying the motion to discharge and replace retained counsel two days before trial. This assignment of error is without merit.
“It PAINS me to say it, but I think Ginsberg was right on this one.”
It pains me that you would post that based on one article which is not only lacking in perspective but has several errors.
Agreed
Obviously you are lacking a proper background on the facts of this case ...
Please edify us with another source so that...we don’t have to feel so filthy.
For both of them.
Let him know it’s right under his Abel Reyna authored “Theories on Gang activities - Prosecution techniques and Best practices”.
Check my postings.
Both? Ginsberg?
It seems you are rising against me and siding with liberals and murderers?
Wait a minute TG, it was you who over a year was supporting the Sniper Cops and Abel Reyna
I don’t support ANY criminal whether they are gang movers, wear a badge or sit in a Prosecutors office!
From what you write, it would seem that that his trial was a travesty, but I don’t know how to reconcile what you write with the dissent’s claim that English didn’t really admit McCoy’s guilt in trial court.
And now I feel the need to take a shower.
The statement in the article doesn’t accurately reflect the facts.
“And now I feel the need to take a shower. “
After your shower do some research which would be enlightening on this dude that was playing the system.
“From what you write, it would seem that that his trial was a travesty,”
Sometimes things are not as they seem.
Hmmm.,, trolling and thread hijacking...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.