Evitts, Superintendent, Blackburn Correctional Complex, et al. v. Lucey (469 U.S. 387)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 21, 1985 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 469 U.S. 387 · 105 S. Ct. 830
- Decided
- January 21, 1985
- Term
- October Term 1984
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court. Douglas v. California, 372 U. S. 353 (1963), held that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the right to counsel on his first appeal as of right. In this case, we must decide whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the criminal defendant the effective assistance of counsel on such an appeal. I On March 21, 1976, a Kentucky jury found respondent guilty of trafficking in controlled substances. His retained counsel filed a timely notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, the state intermediate appellate court. Kentucky Rule of Appellate Procedure 1.095(a)(1) required appellants to serve on the appellate court the record on appeal and a “statement of appeal” that was to contain the names of appellants and appellees, counsel, and the trial judge, the date of judgment, the date of notice of appeal, and additional information. See England v. Spalding, 460 S. W. 2d 4, 6 (Ky. 1970) (Rule “is designed to assist this court in processing records and compliance is not jurisdictional”). Respondent’s counsel failed to file a statement of appeal when he filed his brief and the record on appeal on September 12, 1977. When the Commonwealth filed its brief, it included a motion to dismiss the appeal for failure to file a statement of appeal. The Court of Appeals granted this motion…
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