Tyler v. Louisiana

(1) Whether, when counsel fully concedes the client's guilt to all charges over the client's express objection, counsel's performance amounts to a complete failure to subject the prosecution's case to meaningful adversarial testing so that the United States v. Cronic prejudice standard applies (as every other state and federal court to consider the question has held), or whether the Strickland v. Washington prejudice standard applies (as the lower court in this case held); (2) whether the petitioner's 14th Amendment rights under Boykin v. Alabama and Brookhart v. Janis were violated when his counsel entered the "functional equivalent of a guilty plea" to first-degree murder over his objections; (3) whether the petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to self-representation under Faretta v. California was violated when the trial court did not explain that the petitioner had the right to represent himself when he tried unsuccessfully to fire his attorneys; and (4) whether, in a capital case, the defense counsel who concedes guilt after failing to investigate and present a readily available innocence defense against his client's express wishes renders ineffective assistance under Strickland.