Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled that a defendant whose lawyer fell asleep during his murder trial was deprived of his constitutional right to counsel.
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The state Supreme Judicial Court granted the defendant a new trial.
The defendant, 20-year-old Nyasani Watt, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013. In 2020, he requested a retrial, arguing that his court-appointed lawyer had dozed off multiple times during critical stages of the original trial, including jury selection and witness testimony.
Watt provided affidavits indicating that he and other lawyers in the courtroom observed his attorney sleeping. Even without clear evidence of when the lawyer slept, the Supreme Judicial Court said that “any slumber by counsel during trial is distressing and detrimental.”
The court set new standards for evaluating claims of ineffective assistance due to an attorney sleeping during trial. It ruled that sleepiness constituting “constructive absence” for a substantial part of proceedings is an uncurable error that warrants a new trial.
The opinion aligns Massachusetts with federal appeals courts that have found attorneys sleeping during critical portions of a trial to be a structural error violating defendants’ right to counsel.
Watt’s case will now return to trial court for a new trial with effective legal representation, as guaranteed by the 6th Amendment.
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