Defendant Induced to Self-Incriminate Gets Habeas Hearing

A defendant who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges after truthfully answering his probation officer’s questions about the contents of his phone is entitled to a habeas corpus hearing to determine whether his lawyers were ineffective by not arguing his Fifth Amendment rights were violated, the Eleventh Circuit said Wednesday.

The issue boiled down to whether it was reasonable for Denzil McKathan to believe he was in a classic penalty situation, requiring him to either answer his probation officer’s questions truthfully or have his release revoked, the opinion by Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum said.

As conditions of his supervised release ...