Plea bargaining in the United States
The constitutionality of plea bargaining was established by "Brady v. United States" in 1970, although the Supreme Court warned that plea incentives which were sufficiently large or coercive as to over-rule defendants' abilities to act freely, or used in a manner giving rise to a significant number of innocent people pleading guilty, might be prohibited or lead to concerns over constitutionality. "Santobello v. New York" added that when plea bargains are broken, legal remedies exist.
Burt v. Titlow
Removing Toca as counsel Titlow appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals. She argued that Toca had advised her to withdraw her plea without doing any research on her case therefore providing her with ineffective counsel. The Appeals Court rejected her argument, stating that her withdrawal of the plea bargain started with her conversation with the sheriff's deputy, not Toca. The Court stated "[w]hen a defendant proclaims…innocence…, it is not objectively unreasonable to recommend that the defendant refrain from pleading guilty-no matter how 'good' the deal may appear".