Is a defense counsel's failure to discuss the difference between prison and jail incarceration acceptable professional conduct?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Gomez, A140565, A141148 (Cal. App. 2014):

There is a "strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance." (In re Jones (1996) 13 Cal.4th 552, 561.) Even assuming that confining defendant in state prison rather county jail presents some disadvantages that defendant may not have anticipated, there is no showing or reason to conclude that counsel's failure to discuss with defendant the differences between prison and jail incarceration fell below the standards of acceptable professional conduct.6 There is no suggestion that his attorney was mistaken in agreeing with the prosecutor that the five-year eight-month sentence was required to be served in prison rather than a county jail. Defense counsel understood that her client was "in agreement with the state prison case as long as" the court followed the agreed upon five-year eight-month term; and, as indicated above, defendant said nothing at the time to question that understanding. Unlike an attorney's "quintessential duty" to inform a client whether the plea carries a risk of deportation (Padilla v. Kentucky (2010) 559 U.S. 356, 371), to which defendant refers, no

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