A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that a seminal Sixth Amendment rights case is not retroactive has provided clarity for attorneys while dashing the hopes of thousands of defendants. In 2010, the justices held that criminal defense attorneys are ...

Tagged with: Padilla v. Kentucky retroactive U.S.Supreme Court

A defendant could not have a 2007 drug conviction overturned on the ground that his lawyer failed to advise him of the deportation consequences of his guilty plea, the 4th Circuit has ruled in affirming judgment. In March 2010, the ...

Tagged with: Padilla v. Kentucky retroactive U.S.Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether its 2010 ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky, holding that the Sixth Amendment requires criminal defense attorneys to warn non-citizen clients if a guilty plea carries a risk of deportation, applies retroactively, ...

Tagged with: Padilla v. Kentucky retroactive Sixth Amendment U.S. supreme court

When it comes to informing clients of the possible consequences of a criminal conviction, what obligations do defense lawyers have outside the realm of the strictly criminal? That is one of the questions raised by a decision the U.S. Supreme Court handed down last year.

Tagged with: defense lawyers Padilla v. Kentucky representation SCOTUS

Criminal defense lawyers are weighing in on Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Padilla v. Kentucky, which held that they must inform non-citizen clients about the risk of deportation when taking a plea deal.

Tagged with: deportation Padilla v. Kentucky SCOTUS Sixth Amendment