For the want of a nail

Last Friday, the Idaho Supreme Court granted post-conviction relief in an ineffective assistance of counsel case, McKeeth v. State, all for the omission of one letter of the alphabet.

McKeeth was facing six counts. Defense counsel drafted a conditional plea agreement and the State agreed. It provided that “[i]f the defendant prevails on appeal, he will be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea to the charge.”

So on his first appeal, McKeeth gets three counts dismissed and three affirmed. But then, the Court of Appeals doesn't let him withdraw his guilty plea to the remaining three counts, reasoning that the language of the plea agreement provided for McKeeth to withdraw his plea to only those counts he was able to prevail upon in his appeal. Understandably, McKeeth filed for post-conviction relief.

At the evidentiary hearing, McKeeth's first lawyer testified that 'out of haste' he mistakenly left off an “s” at the end of the word “charge” on the plea agreement. Not only did McKeeth and his original attorney testify they intended to reserve the right to withdraw the guilty pleas on all counts if McKeeth prevailed on appeal regarding any one of them, a prosecutor testified “that although they did not realize it at the time, they now believed McKeeth and his attorney did intend to reserve such a right.”

It took the Supreme Court (Burdick, J.) to deliver the result which everyone intended in the first place:

McKeeth’s plea was not voluntarily made because it was based on the incorrect advice and understanding of counsel resulting from counsel’s clerical error. Counsel’s deficiency in drafting a plea agreement that did not contain the protections counsel and McKeeth intended to preserve constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. But for his counsel’s errors, McKeeth would not have pleaded guilty and would have proceeded to trial. This Court therefore reverses the district court and vacates McKeeth’s guilty pleas to the remaining counts of the charges against him.

All avoidable from the get with ten seconds' worth of proofreading.