Johnson v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant was indicted for armed robbery, aggravated assault, and two counts of burglary and rejected the State's plea agreement. At issue was whether defendant's trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to advise him that if he rejected the State's plea offer, he would face a mandatory sentence of life without parole if convicted on the armed robbery count. The court concluded that, if trial counsel, before the expiration of the State's plea offer, had investigated the facts of the case, informed defendant that his alibi witnesses would not testify, advised defendant that he faced a mandatory sentence of life without parole if convicted at trial, and proffered his own informed opinion as to whether defendant should accept or reject the plea offer, it was quite evident that defendant not only would have been amenable to the State's plea offer but actually would have accepted it. Therefore, the court held that defendant demonstrated that he received ineffective assistance of counsel where defendant had shown both that his trial counsel was deficient and that he was prejudiced by these deficiencies. Accordingly, the judgment was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings.
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