Reuters: U.S.: High court to hear claim over withdrawn guilty plea

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High court to hear claim over withdrawn guilty plea Feb 25th 2013, 15:31 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Supreme Court bars defendant's retrial after judge errs Wed, Feb 20 2013 Supreme Court won't extend 2010 immigration ruling Wed, Feb 20 2013 Supreme Court to revisit campaign finance limits Tue, Feb 19 2013 Police dog "sniff" passes Supreme Court smell test Tue, Feb 19 2013 Supreme Court won't hear ex-Illinois Governor Ryan's appeal Tue, Feb 19 2013 Analysis & Opinion Victim in SCOTUS generics case has powerful amici: Harkin and Waxman Will 2nd Circuit limit on UBS liability in terror case have ripples? People line up for admission at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington October 1, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Gary Cameron By Jonathan Stempel and Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON | Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:31am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether a lower court erred in throwing out a murder conviction of a transgender man accused of killing his wealthy uncle so he could use money from the estate for a sex-change operation. Vonlee Titlow claimed his trial lawyer was constitutionally ineffective by giving him bad advice in urging that he withdraw his guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter and go to trial over the August 2000 death of his uncle, Donald Rogers. Prosecutors said Titlow agreed to help his aunt, Billie Rogers, kill his uncle so she could inherit Donald Rogers' estate and ultimately pass some of the money to him. The manslaughter plea could have subjected Titlow to a seven- to 15-year prison term, but Titlow was later convicted by an Oakland County, Michigan, state court jury of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. On May 22, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction, saying Titlow's trial lawyer did not investigate the case. The court said that had the lawyer done so properly he would, or should, have recommended that Titlow not withdraw his plea. It cited a 2012 Supreme Court precedent, Lafler v. Cooper, which held that the right of criminal defendants under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to effective assistance of counsel extended to the plea bargaining process. Nineteen U.S. states supported Michigan's appeal. Oral argument and a decision are expected in the court's next term, which runs from October 2013 to June 2014. The case is Burt v. Titlow, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-414. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Howard Goller and Eric Beech) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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