## Facts

- Galin E. Frye was charged in Missouri with driving with a revoked license; because of prior convictions, the charge was a felony carrying up to four years’ imprisonment.
- The prosecutor sent Frye’s counsel a letter extending two plea offers, including an offer to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor with a recommended 90-day sentence upon a guilty plea.
- Frye’s counsel failed to inform Frye of the plea offers, and the offers lapsed.
- Shortly before the preliminary hearing, Frye was again arrested for driving with a revoked license.
- Frye later pleaded guilty without a plea agreement and received a three-year prison sentence on the felony.
- In postconviction proceedings, Frye alleged ineffective assistance based on counsel’s failure to convey the plea offers and testified he would have accepted the misdemeanor offer.
- The postconviction court denied relief; the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed, finding deficient performance and prejudice.

## Issues

1. Whether the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel applies to formal plea offers that lapse without being communicated to the defendant.
2. What showing of prejudice is required under Strickland when counsel’s deficient performance causes a favorable plea offer to lapse.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel applies to the consideration of formal plea offers that lapse or are rejected.
- The Court held that defense counsel has a duty to communicate formal plea offers that may be favorable to the accused; failure to do so can be constitutionally deficient performance.
- The Court vacated the judgment of the Missouri Court of Appeals and remanded for application of the proper prejudice inquiry.
- The Court noted reasons to doubt prejudice on the existing record, including Frye’s subsequent arrest and its likely effect on prosecutorial and judicial willingness to proceed under the earlier offer.

## Legal Principles

- Plea bargaining is a “critical stage” of a criminal case for Sixth Amendment purposes; ineffective-assistance claims in this context are governed by Strickland’s two-part framework.
- Deficient performance may be shown when counsel allows a formal plea offer to expire without advising the defendant and permitting consideration of the offer.
- To establish prejudice from a lapsed plea offer, the defendant must show a reasonable probability that:
  - the defendant would have accepted the earlier offer had it been communicated and competently advised; and
  - the prosecution would not have withdrawn the offer and the trial court would have accepted and implemented it.
- The Sixth Amendment does not create a right to be offered a plea bargain; it regulates counsel’s performance when a formal offer is made.
- Any remedy should address the constitutional violation without granting an unjustified benefit to the defendant and while accounting for the State’s legitimate interests.

## Conclusion

Missouri v. Frye recognized that effective assistance of counsel includes timely communication of favorable formal plea offers and required defendants claiming a lost plea opportunity to prove a reasonable probability of acceptance and approval by both the prosecutor and the court.


Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134 (2012)