Cite as: 535 U. S. 654 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
ment. Although they may not attach probation to an imposed and suspended prison sentence, States unable or unwilling routinely to provide appointed counsel to misdemeanants in Shelton's situation are not without recourse to another option capable of yielding a similar result.
That option is pretrial probation, employed in some form by at least 23 States. See App. to Reply Brief for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae 1a-2a (collecting state statutes). Under such an arrangement, the prosecutor and defendant agree to the defendant's participation in a pretrial rehabilitation program,11 which includes conditions typical of post-trial probation. The adjudication of guilt and imposition of sentence for the underlying offense then occur only if and when the defendant breaches those conditions. Ibid.; see, e. g., Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-56e (2001); Pa. Rules Crim. Proc. 310-320, 316 (2002) ("The conditions of the [pretrial rehabilitation] program may be such as may be imposed with respect to probation after conviction of a crime."); N. Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 170.55(3) (McKinney Supp. 2001) (pretrial "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal" may require defendant "to observe certain specified conditions of conduct").12
Like the regime urged by amicus, this system reserves the appointed-counsel requirement for the "small percent-11 Because this device is conditioned on the defendant's consent, it does not raise the question whether imposition of probation alone so restrains a defendant's liberty as to require provision of appointed counsel. See Brief for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae 8; cf. Brief for Respondent 13-16.
12 There is thus only one significant difference between pretrial probation and the "sensible option" urged by the dissent, i. e., "complete retrial of the misdemeanor violation with assistance of counsel" upon a defend-ant's violation of probation terms, post, at 677. Pretrial probation is substantially less expensive: It permits incarceration after a single trial, whereas the dissent's regime requires two—one (without counsel) to place the defendant on probation, and a second (with counsel) to trigger imprisonment.
671
Page: Index Previous 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007