Professor Chin cited in Kentucky Supreme Court case

The Kentucky Supreme Court cited an article co-authored by Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin in a case holding that defense counsel were obligated to inform their clients of mandatory sex-offender registration.

Commonwealth v. Thompson involved a man who pled guilty to second-degree terroristic threatening and attempt to commit kidnapping. Upon his release from prison, he learned he had to register under the Kentucky Revised Statute as a person who had committed sex crimes or crimes against minors. Unhappy with his counsel, Thompson filed a Kentucky Rule of Criminal Procedure 11.42 motion.

The court cited an article by Chin and Richard W. Holmes, “Effective Assistance of Counsel and the Consequences of Guilty Pleas,” in confirming the opinion of an appellate court that reversed a circuit-court decision denying the defendant’s motion without a hearing.

Gabriel “Jack” Chin is Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law and holder of the Edward L. Barrett, Jr. Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law.  He is a prolific and much-cited criminal and immigration law scholar whose work has addressed many of the most pressing social issues of our time.