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45 Duq. L. Rev. [i] (2006-2007)

handle is hein.journals/duqu45 and id is 1 raw text is: Duquesne Law Review Volume 45, Number 1, Fall 2006 © DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY, 2006-2007 THE PENNSYLVANIA ISSUE Article THE RIGHT TO ARGUE THAT TRIAL COUNSEL WAS CONSTITUTIONALLY INEFFECTIVE K irk J H enderson ......................................................................... 1 A person accused of a crime has a right to the effec- tive assistance of trial counsel. When that right is violated, defendants seek relief by arguing that their attorney was ineffective. This article addresses a situ- ation in which a class of defendants is deprived of any opportunity to ever argue that trial counsel was inef- fective. In Pennsylvania, ineffectiveness claims gen- erally must be deferred to the post-conviction stage of a case instead of being litigated during the direct appeal. To be eligible for post-conviction relief, how- ever, a defendant must be serving a sentence when the court issues a ruling. For those defendants with too short of a sentence to litigate a post-conviction petition, there is no way to argue that trial counsel was ineffective. This means that a defendant may have been convicted solely because of trial counsel's ineffectiveness, but yet has no way to remedy this constitutional error. Comments ANALYZING A MUNICIPALITYS AUTHORITY TO ENACT THE MODEL ORDINANCE FOR WIND ENERGY FACILITIES IN PENNSYLVANIA M ark K D ausch ......................................................................... 47