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Gary McClain v. Texas

Paid petition · Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, No. WR-91,298-01 · judgment November 17, 2021

Certiorari denied · April 25, 2022

Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

This Court held in McCoy v. Louisiana, 138 S. Ct. 1500 (2018), that defense counsel may not concede his client’s guilt in the guilt phase of trial if the client insisted that the defense was the client was not guilty. If defense counsel conceded his client’s guilt in closing argument during the guilt phase of trial, without the client’s permission, does that concession violate the client’s Sixth Amendment secured autonomy constituting structural error and warranting a new trial by blocking the client’s right to make fundamental choices about his own defense?

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

Apr 25 2022
Petition DENIED.
Apr 06 2022
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/22/2022.
Feb 15 2022
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 21, 2022)
Petition Appendix Certificate of Word Count Proof of Service