Counsel's Unconsented-To Admission is Reversible Error, Except When It's Not

In State v. Harbison, 315 N.C. 175 (1985), the North Carolina Supreme Court held that when defense counsel admits the defendant’s guilt to the jury without the defendant’s consent per se ineffective assistance of counsel occurs. The Harbison Court reasoned that when counsel admits guilt without consent, it is essentially the same as entering a guilty plea on the defendant’s behalf without the defendant’s consent. It concluded: “ineffective assistance of counsel, per se in violation of the Sixth Amendment, has been established in every criminal case in which the defendant’s counsel admits the defendant’s guilt to the jury without the defendant’s consent.” Id. at 180. Harbison claims differ from the more garden-variety attorney-error ineffective assistance of counsel claims, commonly called Strickland claims. Such a claim might allege, for example, that counsel’s conduct was deficient by failing to interview a key witness or by failing to object to inadmissible evidence. Strickland claims are evaluated under a two-pronged test, requiring the defendant to show both deficient performance and prejudice. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). A Harbison claim thus is easier to prove than a Strickland claim; for a Harbison claim the defense need only establish an admission of guilt; no showing of prejudice is required. There are however two important limitations to a Harbison claim, both of which were addressed in a recent court of appeals case, State v. Wilson. In Wilson, the defendant was charged with and convicted of attempted first-degree murder. The case arose out of an incident [...]