Raymon Walters v. United States

In McCoy v. Louisiana, 584 U.S. 414 (2018), this Court held that the Sixth Amendment protects a defendant’s “right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsel’s experienced-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance” to obtain a less severe sentence. Id. at 417. The McCoy dissent observed that the majority opinion left open “a related—and difficult—question”: “When guilt is the sole issue for the jury, is it ever permissible for counsel to make the unilateral decision to concede an element of the offense charged?” Id. at 435 (Alito, J., dissenting). The question presented is: Whether defense counsel may concede an element of an offense over the defendant’s objection, where the concession is reasonably designed to advance the defendant’s objective of obtaining an acquittal. (i)