News / FJP Releases

October 7, 2026 (Washington, D.C.) — Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP), alongside a group of former state and federal judges and prosecutors, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case of a Texas man sentenced to death after his lead defense attorney repeatedly fell asleep during critical portions of his trial.

In Alvarez v. Guerrero, Juan Carlos Alvarez’s lead attorney repeatedly slept during both the guilt and penalty phases of his capital trial, missing witness testimony and at one point requiring the judge to wake him when it was time to question a witness. Although another defense attorney was present, a local rule enforced by the trial court prevented that second attorney from stepping in to question witnesses or object during portions of the case assigned to lead counsel. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit nevertheless allowed Mr. Alvarez’s conviction and death sentence to stand.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the effective assistance of counsel, not simply an attorney’s physical presence in the courtroom. A lawyer who is unconscious during a trial will miss information necessary to effectively question witnesses, raise objections, and make strategic decisions as the case unfolds. Judges and prosecutors each have a responsibility to recognize when a failure this serious compromises the fundamental fairness of the proceedings and to ensure it does not go unaddressed. When a person’s life is at stake, that responsibility is all the more urgent.

“Prosecutors have a responsibility not only to pursue justice in the courtroom, but also to recognize when a conviction was reached through a process that fell short of our constitutional standards,” said FJP Executive Director Aramis N. Donell. “Everyone in a courtroom has a role to play, and justice depends on each of us being fully present and fulfilling that responsibility. A defense attorney sleeping through any part of a trial is a serious failure, and when someone’s life is at stake, we cannot simply look past it because a conviction was secured. A prosecutor’s obligation to pursue justice means that we must not only care about the outcome, but also about how we got there.”

Public confidence in the courts depends on knowing that constitutional protections are more than promises on paper. When those protections fail in practice, particularly in a case where a person’s life is at stake, the justice system must address that failure or lose its legitimacy. The brief urges the Supreme Court to grant Mr. Alvarez’s petition, vacate his conviction, and remand the case for further proceedings.

Read the full brief here.