Tenth Circuit Court Raises Evidentiary Standards for Sixth Amendment Attorney-Client Violation Claims

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has recently overturned its longstanding precedent from a 1995 decision in Shillinger v. Haworth, which previously held that a Sixth Amendment violation occurs whenever the government intentionally and without legitimate purpose gains access to an attorney-client conversation. The Circuit’s new ruling stipulates that a violation is established only if a realistic possibility exists that the prosecution benefited from the confidential communication. This decision raises the bar for prosecutors in terms of proving attorney-client violations within the Sixth Amendment context. For further details, please refer to the original coverage by the National Law Journal.