Third Circuit Announces Claim of Innocence Does Not Resolve Whether Defendant Would Have Accepted Plea Offer Absent Counsel’s Error and Holds Counsel Ineffective for Failing to Properly Advise Defendant About Mandatory Sentences If Plea Offer Rejected

by Sam Rutherford

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granted a federal prisoner’s habeas petition where his trial attorney failed to properly advise him of the mandatory sentences he would receive if he rejected the Government’s plea offer and proceeded to trial, holding that such misinformation constituted …