Few things are more precious to a prisoner than mail from friends and family. So when a prison rejects incoming mail, it`s a personal blow to a prisoner. But it`s also a constitutional issue: The U.S. Constitution protects a prisoner`s right to correspond with other, including family, friends, and the news media. This also includes…
Establishing “prejudice” to undo a guilty plea because of the ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) varies depending on which stage of the criminal case you`re in when you challenge your guilty plea. There are three main categories of IAC in the guilty plea context: Bad advice to plead guilt; Bad advice to reject a plea…
More than 95% of state and federal convictions are by way of a guilty plea, and almost all of them are the result of counsel’s advice to plead guilty. A successful attack on a guilty plea would then depend on showing that counsel’s bad advice to plead guilty rendered the plea not “knowing and voluntary.”…
When seeking habeas corpus relief in federal court, nothing says that you have to file a reply to the prosecutor’s (“government’s”) response to your petition. In fact, courts had long held that a habeas petition doesn`t have the right to file a reply after the government responds. But that changed on December 1, 2019, when…
We are what we pretend to be, and so we must be careful what we pretend to be. – Kurt Vonnegut
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted COVID-19 restrictions there and said, “It`s time to move from government restrictions to personal responsibility.” Immediately my mind said What a great solution to the challenge of making sure sex offenders don`t reoffend. If you can`t see the connection, let me explain. The U.S. Government and society in general…
It`s just about set in stone that Ghislaine Maxwell will spend many years, if not the rest of her life, in federal prison. Lots of people have speculated about where she`ll go, but here`s the “inside info” on how the feds decide who goes to what prison. Where Will Maxwell Go? Where Maxwell goes is…
After you file your application and memorandum in support of your request for habeas corpus relief in federal court, the prosecutor (commonly called the “government” in these cases), gets a chance to respond to your filings. This usually comes after the court reviews your papers to see if the government should even respond. Unfortunately, habeas…
You`ve got one good shot at federal habeas corpus relief, so you better make it count. There aren`t any do-overs in the world of federal habeas corpus, and there are lots of procedural obstacles that can kill your attempt at relief before you even get going. It`s tough. Let`s go over some stuff you need…
It used to be that the events leading up to a guilty played out in secret. The prosecutor and the defense would get together and hammer out a deal where the defendant would agree to plead guilty in exchange for some concessions. Maybe there were some promises made, and maybe there were some threats. But…
