Citing the “extremely troubling” actions of a defense attorney who would not offer his client advice about whether to accept a plea offer in satisfaction of several serious charges, including attempted murder, a magistrate judge has granted the defendant habeas corpus relief and ordered him released after more than 11 years in prison.
Western District Magistrate Judge Victor E. Bianchini said Tamarr Young’s trial attorney failed to perform one of the fundamental functions of a defense lawyer: to communicate a plea offer to his client and to inform him of alternative sentences if the offer is rejected and his case goes to trial.
