Lawyer’s Nap During Murder Trial Created ‘Uncurable Error’ (1)

An attorney who nodded off during a first degree murder trial violated a defendant’s constitutional right to counsel, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said in an opinion Thursday.

“A defendant whose attorney is unconscious and thereby constructively absent for significant portions of the proceedings or during an important part of the proceedings” has been deprived of their constitutional right to counsel, the opinion said.

The opinion sets the state court’s standards for evaluating claims of ineffective assistance of counsel based on an attorney’s sleepiness. The Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits have all found that it’s a structural ...