Lockhart v. Fretwell
- Decided
- January 25, 1993
- Docket
- 91-1393
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,956 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that under Strickland, petitioner must show that “counsel’s deficient performance renders the result of the trial unreliable or the proceeding fundamentally unfair” — United States v. Michael Leslie Blaylock (1994)
- holding that the Teague rules limiting retroactive interpretation of the law do not apply to changes in the law that would uphold, rather than reverse, a conviction — Vincent Fischetti v. Philip Johnson Gerald J. Pappert. (2004)
- concluding that analysis in ineffective assistance of counsel cases that focuses solely on outcome determination, rather than the fundamental fairness or reliability of the proceeding, is deficient — Yoswick v. State (1997)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
[*366] Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case we decide whether counsel’s failure to make an objection in a state criminal sentencing proceeding — an objection that would have been supported by a decision which subsequently was overruled — constitutes “prejudice” within the meaning of our decision in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984). Because the result of the sentencing proceeding in this case was rendered neither unreliable nor fundamentally unfair as a result of counsel’s failure to make the objection, we answer the question in the negative. To hold otherwise would grant criminal defendants a windfall to which they are not entitled.
In August 1985, an Arkansas jury convicted respondent Bobby Ray Fretwell of capital felony murder. During the penalty phase, the State argued that the evidence presented during the guilt phase established two aggravating factors: (1) the murder was committed for pecuniary gain, and (2) the murder was committed to facilitate respondent’s escape. Finding the existence of the first of these factors, and no mitigating factors, the jury sentenced respondent to death.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364 (1993)Read the full opinion
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