Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1026_2c83.pdf
Page Number: 4

Cite as:  586 U. S. ____ (2019) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order
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SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 17–1026 
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GILBERTO GARZA, JR., PETITIONER v. IDAHO 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF IDAHO 

[February 27, 2019]

 JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. 
In Roe v. Flores-Ortega, 528 U. S. 470 (2000), this Court 
held that when an attorney’s deficient performance costs a 
defendant  an  appeal  that  the  defendant  would  have  oth-
erwise  pursued,  prejudice  to  the  defendant  should  be 
presumed “with no further showing from the defendant of
the  merits  of  his  underlying  claims.”    Id.,  at  484.  This 
case  asks  whether  that  rule  applies  even  when  the  de-
fendant has, in the course of pleading guilty, signed what 
is  often  called  an  “appeal  waiver”—that  is,  an  agreement 
forgoing certain, but not all, possible appellate claims.  We 
hold that the presumption of prejudice recognized in Flores-
Ortega  applies  regardless  of  whether  the  defendant  has
signed an appeal waiver. 

I 
In early 2015, petitioner Gilberto Garza, Jr., signed two
plea  agreements,  each  arising  from  criminal  charges 
brought by the State of Idaho.  Each agreement included a
clause  stating  that  Garza  “waive[d]  his  right  to  appeal.” 
App.  to  Pet.  for  Cert.  44a,  49a.  The  Idaho  trial  court 
accepted the agreements and sentenced Garza to terms of 
prison in accordance with the agreements. 

Shortly  after  sentencing,  Garza  told  his  trial  counsel