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Casebook Read Credits
Criminal Procedure Fall 2022
Resource 10 . 1 . 3
28 minutes

Alabama v. Shelton

535 U.S. 654 (2002)

C.E. Field

What about Probation cases?  Alabama did not provide a lawyer for Shelton, an indigent defendant, who pled to a suspended jail sentence and probation.

The Supreme Court holds here that a sentence potentially resulting in jail time may not be imposed without counsel appointed.  (If a probationary sentence does not include jail time, it will not run afoul of Shelton.  For example, Federal probationary sentences are stand-alone...  no suspended jail time.)

Supreme Court of the United States
535 U.S. 654, 152 L. Ed. 2d 888, 122 S. Ct. 1764, SCDB 2001-050, 2002 U.S. LEXIS 3564
No. 00-1214
2002-05-20

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