In the 2011 case of Eric Greene, also known as Jarmaine Q. Trice, versus Jon Fisher, Superintendent at State Correctional Institution at Smithfield and others, Greene challenged his conviction for first-degree murder and related offenses. He argued that his constitutional rights were violated due to ineffective assistance of counsel during plea negotiations before trial. Specifically, he claimed that his attorney failed to communicate a plea offer from the prosecution which would have resulted in a significantly lesser sentence than what he received after trial. The Supreme Court held that criminal defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to effective legal assistance during plea bargain negotiations when those pleas are likely to result in less severe sentences than if the case went to trial.

In the dissenting opinion for Eric Greene v. Jon Fisher, it was argued that the majority's decision to deny habeas relief was incorrect due to procedural errors in Greene's trial. The dissent pointed out that during his trial, Greene had not been allowed to cross-examine a key witness against him - an action which they believed violated his Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. They also disagreed with the majority's interpretation of harmless error review and contended that this violation could have significantly influenced the jury’s verdict. Furthermore, they criticized how Pennsylvania courts handled this issue by failing to conduct a proper harmlessness analysis under federal law standards and instead applying their own state-law standard which is less protective of defendants' rights.