In deciding to plead guilty in a criminal case, has there ever been a finding that a defendant was not fully capable of rationally weighing the pros and cons of forgoing a trial and pleading guilty?

Nor, as in Brady v. United States (1970) 397 U.S. 742, 750, was there a showing that in deciding to plead guilty defendant "was so gripped by . . . hope of leniency that he did not or could not, with the help of counsel, rationally weigh the advantages of going to trial against the advantages of pleading guilty." The transcripts of the plea and post-plea hearings clearly demonstrate that the court found defendant fully capable of rationally weighing the pros and cons of forgoing a trial and pleading guilty. It is beyond cavil that many, if not most, defendants hope for leniency by the sentencing judge; this defendant was unquestionably vocal and admittedly "verbose" in his persistent expression of those hopes, compounded by his insistence that the charges were based on lies. Defendant

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