Argument preview: When a defendant in a capital case says “not guilty,” can his attorney say “guilty”?

In 2011, Robert McCoy was tried on three counts of first-degree murder for the 2008 shooting deaths of Christine and Willie Young – the mother and stepfather of McCoy’s estranged wife, Yolanda – and Gregory Colston, Yolanda’s son, in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. Although McCoy steadfastly maintained that he was innocent, his attorney took a different tack, conceding McCoy’s guilt in an unsuccessful attempt to spare his life. Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral argument on whether the lawyer’s decision was a reasonable effort to make the best of a bad situation or instead a violation of McCoy’s constitutional rights, entitling him to new trial.