On C-SPAN Radio’ s historic Supreme Court Oral Argument this week: On December 6, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the oral argument in “Martel v. Claire”—a case about whether a state death row inmate is entitled to receive a new court-appointed lawyer when he alleges that his first court-appointed counsel was not pursuing important evidence.
On November 26th, on C-SPAN Radio’s historic Supreme Court oral argument, a case cited in “Martel v. Claire.” From 2004:
“The state of Florida, petitioner v. Joe Elton Nixon and others, respondents.”
A Florida court convicted Joe Elton Nixon of murder and sentenced him to death. During the trial Mr. Nixon's lawyer told the jury that his client was guilty. Joe Nixon appealed, arguing that he’d received ineffective counsel, in violation of the Sixth Amendment, and that he did not agree to his lawyer's strategy. After several appeals the Florida Supreme Court granted Joe Nixon a new trial, ruling that his lawyer's comments were essentially a guilty plea and that because Mr. Nixon did not explicitly agree to the strategy, the lawyer was "per se ineffective." The case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Listen to the courtroom recording of the oral argument in the 2004 case "Florida v. Joe Nixon and others”--Saturday, November 26 at 6 pm ET on C-SPAN Radio: 90.1 FM in the Washington, DC area, online at Cspanradio.org and nationwide on XM Satellite Radio, channel 119. The audio and information in this program are courtesy of the Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law at: http://www.oyez.org/