Williams v. Jones

Williams (plaintiff) was charged with first-degree murder and wanted to accept a plea offer, but his attorney wrongly told him that pleading guilty would be perjury and refused to represent him if he pleaded, so Williams rejected the offer, was convicted, and received life without parole. On review, the state courts found ineffective assistance during plea bargaining and found prejudice because he lost the chance to accept the plea, but remedied it only by reducing his sentence to life with the possibility of parole. Williams sought federal habeas relief, arguing the remedy was inadequate; the district court denied the petition, and he appealed.

Whether the remedy for a Sixth Amendment violation of the right to effective assistance of counsel during plea bargaining must be limited to remedies available under state sentencing law.