Plea offers and claimed innocence
Marc Shelton Fowler v. United States
In brief
- Where it stands
- Dismissed
Petition denied.
- What it’s about
- The Supreme Court refused Marc Shelton Fowler’s request to hear the case (denied review), so it did not decide whether defendants who plead not guilty and initially maintain their innocence can show they would later have accepted a plea offer if their lawyer had properly explained it.
- Who it affects
- Fowler received no Supreme Court decision on whether an initial not-guilty plea bars this kind of later claim.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
The dispute concerned the Sixth Amendment right to effective help from a defense lawyer, including advice about a plea offer.
Question presented
Whether defendants who plead not guilty and initially maintain their innocence are categorically barred from ever showing a “reasonable probability” that they would have subsequently accepted a plea offer if it had been properly explained to them by defense counsel?
Documents
Docket activity
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AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
AI analysis generated: Decision Record
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Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.