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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Allen
North Carolina v. Alford
Citation:
400 U.S. 25 (1970)Facts
Respondent was indicted for first-degree murder. Given the weight of the evidence against him, his attorney advised him to enter a guilty plea, which he did, to avoid the death penalty. After the State had presented its evidence, respondent took the stand and said that although he was entering a guilty plea, he was innocent. He was sentenced to thirty years of imprisonment for second-degree murder. He then sought post-conviction relief in state court, claiming that his plea of guilty was invalid because it was the product of fear and coercion.
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