Wiggins v. State

1 Citing case

  1. Johnson v. State

    580 S.W.3d 895 (Mo. 2019)   Cited 27 times
    In Johnson v. State, 580 S.W.3d 895 (Mo. 2019), the Supreme Court held that the availability of the death penalty in a particular murder prosecution does not make a defendant’s plea to lesser charges involuntary or coerced: "the fact that the maximum authorized punishment for a certain crime may be a threatening alternative in itself does not render a plea involuntary."

    While counsel may ultimately advise a defendant to plead guilty based on the circumstances in a given case, counsel still has the basic duty to discuss the circumstances and possible consequences of entering a plea, including possible defenses to the offense charged, in order to ensure that the defendant makes an informed and intelligent decision about waiving the right to trial. Wiggins v. State, 480 S.W.3d 379, 383 (Mo. App. 2015). A plea "must not only be a voluntary expression of the defendant’s choice, it must be a knowing and intelligent act done with sufficient awareness of the relevant circumstances and likely consequences of the act."