Cooke v. State

RIDGELY, Justice,

for the Majority.

In this capital case, we address whether defense counsel may introduce evidence *809incriminating their client at the guilt/innocence phase and then argue that a competent defendant is “guilty but mentally ill” of the crimes charged when the defendant expressly objects to this strategy, asserts his factual innocence, denies mental illness, and so testifies before the jury. We also address whether the trial judge, in these extraordinary circumstances, may choose not to intervene when the conflict between defense counsel and the defendant over the objectives of the…