Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Larry McNEAL
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1992-01-08
Citations: 593 So. 2d 729
Docket Number: No. 91-K-2750
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Larry McNEAL.
Judges: Before SCHOTT, C.J., and LOBRANO and PLOTKIN, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 593
Pages: 729–731

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Larry McNEAL.
No. 91-K-2750.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Jan. 8, 1992.
Stay Order Vacated; Writ Granted with Order Jan. 31, 1992.
Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., New Orleans, for respondent.
John Ruskin, Clyde Merritt, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for relator.
Before SCHOTT, C.J., and LOBRANO and PLOTKIN, JJ.

Opinion:
SCHOTT, Chief Judge.
On the application of the defendant we grant certiorari in order to consider the validity of the ruling of the trial court denying his attorneys' motion to withdraw from the case. The issue is whether a conflict of interests exists ipso facto in the situation where counsel for separate clients with antagonistic defenses are represented by separate counsel all furnished by the Orleans Indigent Defender Program (OIDP).
Relator stands indicted for first degree murder and has been represented by OIDP attorneys Merritt and Ruskin. Estelle Turner was indicted for being an accessory after the fact to the murder. She has been represented by OIDP attorney Green. Turner was offered immunity and on the advice of counsel made statements impli- eating relator. Some of the statements also implicated Turner, but others did not. When counsel for relator advised him of "a possible conflict of interest caused by O.I.D.P.'s representation of both the relator and Ms. Turner" he asserted his right to "conflict-free representation" prompting Merritt and Ruskin to move to withdraw from the representation.
Relator does not argue that any actual conflict exists in this case. He does not allege any facts which directly or inferentially support a conclusion that his attorneys' loyalty to him was compromised or that their ability to defend him was curtailed or infringed up by virtue of Turner's being represented by another OIDP attorney. He says only that OIDP is a law firm so that representation of clients with conflicting interests is prohibited by Rule 1.10 of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
A law firm is a voluntary association by lawyers for the mutual benefit of the members who share income and expenses. The OIDP is a phrase used to refer to the program administered by the indigent defender board appointed by the Criminal District Court of the Parish of Orleans pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:144(B). Like all the judicial district indigent boards throughout the state the Orleans Parish board is a creature of the legislature whose purpose is. to provide representation to criminal defendants who are indigent. Such a board may employ a chief indigent defender and such assistants and supporting personnel as it deems necessary. R.S. 15:145(B)(2).
The Orleans Parish Indigent Board has employed a chief and a number of assistants pursuant to this statute. These attorneys are employees of the board pursuant to § 145(B)(2). They are public employees. They are not members of a partnership or partners in a firm of lawyers. Consequently Rule 1.10 does not apply to them. The mere fact that attorneys representing clients with conflicting interests are employees of the same indigent defender board does not in itself furnish a ground for one of the attorneys to withdraw or for the client to insist upon the appointment of an attorney who is not an employee of the board. This is understood in the context that an actual conflict has not been alleged or proved.
Accordingly, the rulings of the trial court denying the motion to withdraw and denying relator's motion to determine whether he would consent to the representation in the face of the supposed conflict are affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
PLOTKIN, J., dissents with written reasons.