Howarth v. State, Public Defender Agency

I disagree with the court’s causation analysis, with its collateral estoppel analysis, and with its holding that a person convicted of a crime cannot recover damages from an attorney whose malpractice contributed to the person’s incarceration.

I. CAUSATION

In September 19811 Howarth entered a plea of nolo contendere to the charge of sexual assault in the first degree, a violation of AS 11.41.410,2 and received a ten-year presumptive sentence.3 The superior court later found that Howarth had established ineffective assistance of counsel and granted Howarth’s motion to withdraw the plea he…