No right to counsel attaches where a defendant who has waived extradition proceedings is questioned by officers during a transfer between jurisdictions. The petitioner argued that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move to exclude a confession on the grounds that it had been made outside the presence of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment. The Ninth Circuit found no error or ineffective assistance, because the confession had occurred en route from New Hampshire to California, and despite the fact that he had been appointed a public defender in New Hampshire, defendant had ultimately waived extradition proceedings. No further right to counsel attached until adversarial judicial proceedings had been initiated in California.
Case Summaries