Haynes v. Cain’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 1 district · 9 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Previous circuit court decisions have elaborated on this distinction between ineffective assistance of counsel and the constructive denial of counsel. Collectively, these decisions reinforce the notion that defense counsel must entirely fail to subject the prosecution’s case to meaningful adversarial testing for the Cronic exception to apply. Gochicoa v. Johnson, 238 F.3d 278, 285 (5th Cir. 2000) (holding that ‘[w]hen the defendant receives at least some meaningful assistance, he must prove prejudice in order to obtain relief for ineffective assistance of counsel’ (quoting Goodwin v. Johnson, 132 F.3d 162 , 176 n. 10 (5th Cir.1997))). Thus, when analyzing an attorney’s decision regarding concession of guilt at trial, courts have found a constructive denial of counsel only in those instances where a defendant’s attorney concedes the only factual issues in dispute. See United States v. Swanson, 943 F.2d 1070, 1074 (9th Cir.1991) (holding that ‘[a] lawyer who informs the jury that it is his view of the evidence that there is no reasonable doubt regarding the only factual issues that are in dispute has utterly failed to subject the prosecution’s case to meaningful adversarial testing’). In contrast, those courts that have confronted situations in which defense counsel concedes the defendant’s guilt for only lesser-included offenses have consistently found these partial concessions to be tactical decisions, and not a denial of the right to counsel. As such, they have analyzed the”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Polk v. State · Walker v. State

2. “Trial counsel's decision to concede Haynes' guilt on the second degree murder charge was probably a wise move. However, this point is absolutely irrelevant to the issue before us. The Constitution mandates that the decision to concede guilt on a lesser charge must be made by the accused, not his attorney, regardless of how difficult it may be for the attorney to mount a defense on all charges.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Gordon

3. “Strickland does not provide the appropriate framework for analyzing this case. . . . [T]his case raises a much broader concern that goes to the very core of what the Sixth Amendment means and asks us to address important questions involving due process and the right to a fair trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Gordon