A defendant who is competent to stand trial is automatically competent to plead guilty or waive the right to legal counsel. Decided June 24, 1993 (argued April 21, 1993). Opinion of the Court: Clarence Thomas → go there Dissenting: Blackmun. Applied: the Fourteenth Amendment → go there Topic: Competence. Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389 (1993), is a landmark decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if a defendant was competent to stand trial, they were automatically competent to plead guilty, and thereby waive the panoply of trial rights, including the right to counsel. Wiki link