Criminal Law in Bergen County: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

CRIMINAL LAW IN BERGEN COUNTY:

CLAIMS OF INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

On many occasions, a disgruntled defendant will claim on appeal or in a post-conviction relief application that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Suffice it to say, arguments of this nature seriously confound an overriding philosophy of the criminal justice system to maintain the finality of a plea agreement or a jury verdict.

Resultantly, the standard for analyzing contentions of this nature are rather narrowly drawn. Specifically, a defendant must establish that his lawyer’s performance was so deficient that there existed "a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the results of the proceeding would have been different". It has been said that the core of this concept is whether the "error" committed by the negligent lawyer was so serious as to undermine the court’s confidence of a jury verdict or a plea agreement.

Moreover, a court is not required to conduct a plenary hearing to analyze ineffective counsel claims in all cases. If it is determined that the defendant’s claim is vague, conclusionary or speculative a hearing is not required. Nor, is one required if the trial court determines that a hearing will not aid the court’s analysis of the defendant’s claim.