A defense lawyer’s failure to present mitigating evidence of domestic abuse when his client pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of her husband “so undermined the adversarial process that counsel no longer was serving in the role of an advocate,” a divided state Supreme Court held on Thursday.
Defense counsel also erred by failing to object to plea agreement restrictions on his right to argue for a lesser sentence, and he should have objected to two prejudicial victim-impact statements, Justice Barry Albin wrote for the 4-2 majority in State v. Hess, A-113-09.
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