Hill v. Lockhart

Hill (defendant), facing first-degree murder and theft charges carrying five years to life, accepted a plea deal for concurrent 35-year and 10-year sentences after signing a statement that his plea was knowing, voluntary, and uncoerced and reaffirming that at the plea hearing; both the judge and his own attorney incorrectly told him he would be parole-eligible after serving one-third of his sentence, when as a second offender he would actually need to serve half. Hill filed a federal habeas petition claiming his plea was involuntary due to ineffective assistance based on this parole-eligibility error; the district court denied the petition, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.