United States v. James R. Wagner

POSNER, Chief Judge.

We write to clarify the standard for determining whether to accept a motion by a criminal defendant’s lawyer to withdraw from representing the defendant on appeal on the ground that there are no nonfrivolous grounds for appealing. Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967). Most of the case law concerns the adequacy of the brief that the lawyer is required to file in support of the motion, identifying-the grounds that he might have raised in an appeal brief and explaining why they are frivolous. E.g., id. at 744-45, 87 S.Ct. at 1400-01; McCoy…