COUNSEL MUST ADVISE DEFENDANTS OF IMMIGRATION CONSEQUENCES

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defense attorneys must advise a Defendant of the immigration consequences that sometimes attach to a guilty plea. In Padilla v. Kentucky, the Court held that a Defendant may claim that ineffective assistance of counsel was provided to him. Padilla (a non-citizen) claims that Counsel did not inform him that he could possibly be deported.

This case will now be remanded for further fact finding.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS MURDER CONVICTION

The Supreme Court has upheld a murder conviction. In Wood v. Allen, the Court held that it was not ineffective for trial attorneys to ignore a possible defense of cognitive deficiencies when the attorneys were in possession of a report that cast doubt as to whether such deficiencies actually limited the Defendant's functioning.

In so ruling, the Court stressed that an ineffective assistance claim cannot prevail when a trial attorney is employing reasonable strategy. Given that such has been the law for years, it is surprising that the Court would take up this issue; the Court likely only took this issue as the Circuit Court of Appeals had reversed the District Court's upholding of the conviction.

Justices Stevens and Kennedy were the only dissenters.