On Jan. 17, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on the capital murder conviction of Robert McCoy, who was sentenced to death by a Louisiana court after his own lawyer told the jury he was guilty of a triple homicide. According to The New York Times, defense counsel Larry English made a tactical decision, over his client’s objection, to tell the jury that his client had committed the homicides in order to maximize his client’s chances at avoiding the death penalty. Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Skeptical of Lawyer’s Conduct in Death Penalty Case,” N.Y. Times (Jan. 17, 2018). English reasoned that, given the overwhelming mountain of evidence against McCoy, his best bet was to concede guilt and focus on mitigation at the sentencing phase of trial.
The lawyer’s ploy didn’t work, as the jury convicted McCoy and imposed the death sentence. In addition, McCoy explicitly objected to the strategy and insisted on maintaining his innocence, arguing that he had an alibi. The question in the Supreme Court is whether the lawyer, in disregarding his client’s explicit instructions to protest his innocence, arrogated to himself a fundamental decision that belonged to the client rather than the lawyer, and thereby violated the client’s Sixth Amendment right to assistance of counsel. A decision is expected before the Court’s June recess.
