South Carolina Supreme Court holding that there is both a statutory and constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel in SVP proceedings.
Matter of Chapman (S.C. 2017)
Posted: September 9, 2023
People v. Codinha (Cal. Ct. App. 2021)
Posted: September 9, 2023
California Court of Appeal opinion affirming denial of appellant's motion to dismiss guilty plea based on ineffective assistance, concluding that counsel was not obligated to advise appellant that a sexually violent predator (SVP) commitment was a possible consequence of his plea.
Fields v. State of Missouri (Mo. Ct. App. 2022)
Posted: September 9, 2023
Missouri Court of Appeals decision in an ineffective assistance of counsel case concluding that, unlike the risk of deportation assessed in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), civil commitment under Missouri's "Sexually Violent Predator" statute is a collateral consequence as opposed to a presumptively mandatory consequence and, therefore, plea counsel was not obligated to inform Appellant of the potential consequence of indefinite civil commitment prior to Appellant's guilty plea.
Laughlin v. United States (E.D. Tenn. 2020)
Posted: March 1, 2020
Federal trial court for the Eastern District of Tennessee denying Petitioner's heabeas corpus motion to vacate her guilty plea where state of Tennessee required her registration as a sex offender despite federal law not requiring her to do so.
Jackson v. United States (11th Cir. 2019)
Posted: November 20, 2019
11th Circuit Court of Appeals finding no ineffective assistance of counsel where, despite advice that plea agreement would not require registration as a sex offender, counsel could not have anticipated subsequent changes in the law.
Commonwealth v. Thompson (Ky. 2018)
Posted: April 28, 2019
Kentucky Supreme Court opinion finding that failure to advise as to sex offense registration in the context of a guilty plea constitutes deficient performance under the Sixth Amendment.
United States v. Shepherd (5th Cir. 2018)
Posted: January 26, 2018
5th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion holding that appellant's guilty plea for failing to register as a sex offender was not voluntary on the grounds that his attorney was ineffective.