People v. De Leon

This case presents a novel question: Must defendants, charged with the commission of the same crime, be represented by separate attorneys before a court may accept identical guilty pleas from each defendant?

May such a plea be accepted, in the face of the possibility that if each defendant had his own lawyer, his counsel might have advised him of the possibility of inculpating his codefendants by exculpating himself? If each defendant is represented by the same counsel, is his plea of guilty an informed waiver of his constitutional rights.

The facts in the instant case required the first…