Failure To Communicate Plea Offer Amounts To Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel

The South Carolina Court of Appeals has found ineffective assistance of counsel in a case where the defendant was not advised of a ten-year plea offer before going to trial and getting twenty.

In this case, trial counsel testified the plea offer was for ten years imprisonment. Bell was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment. The difference is evidence of his prejudice. See id. (concluding the difference in the sentence received and the plea offer was proof of prejudice). Furthermore, Bell testified he would have taken the State’s plea offer had trial counsel told him about it, and the PCR court found Bell’s testimony credible. Although self-serving, the statement is also evidence supporting the PCR court’s finding of prejudice. See id. at 613, 675 S.E.2d at 422 (“[D]epending on the facts of the case, a defendant’s self-serving statement may be sufficient to establish actual prejudice.”). Deferring credibility matters to the PCR court, we find evidence to support the finding. See Simuel, 390  S.C. at 270, 701 S.E.2d at 739 (“This [c]ourt gives great deference to a PCR judge’s findings where matters of credibility are involved.”).

The offense was armed robbery. (Mike Frisch)