Criminal Defense Lawyers Should Abide By a Client's Wishes: Hayes's Lawyers Should Advance His Guilty Plea or Get Out of the Case
A Hartford Courant news article reported yesterday that Stephen Hayes, currently on trial for capital felony murder in New Haven Superior Court, has offered to plead guilty without the benefit of a plea bargain. This is a big deal because the State is seeking the death penalty. In response his public defenders have vowed to try and stop Hayes from pleading guilty.
With all due respect to his criminal defense lawyers, they shouldn't let their personal repugnance for the death penalty interfere with their client's objective. Why? Because lawyers have an ethical duty to abide by a client's wishes--so long as the client is competent. And in Hayes's case, his lawyers had agreed he was competent just moments before he offered to plead guilty.
