Opinion ID: 1745774
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Trial counsel's prior representation of the key prosecution witness created a serious and actual conflict of interest.

Text: Attached to Cabello's motion is the affidavit of William Odom, who, along with Jon Hill, represented Cabello at trial and on direct appeal. Odom alleges that he, as the county's public defender, spoke to Rico on at least one occasion, prior to the appointment of counsel for Frank Cabello, Sr., Frank, Jr. and Rico. According to Odom's notes from the interview, Rico told Odom that he had stolen a survival rifle from his mother's house, that he and Frank, Jr. had gone to Mr. Gurley's car lot, before the crime, at which time Frank, Jr. had helped Mr. Gurley re-charge a battery, and that Frank Cabello, Sr. had left the motel room in which they were staying just to go to the car to fetch things. Unfortunately, although Cabello's motion includes fifty-four exhibits, comprising several hundred pages, it fails to contain a copy of these notes. At trial, Rico testified that the survival rifle was one of the guns that we got at my mom's house, that Mr. Gurley had asked him to take out some jumper cables, and that Frank Cabello, Sr. and Frank, Jr. had left at one point for approximately 30 minutes, at which time Rico saw Frank, Jr. sitting behind the wheel of a rust-colored, reddish car, which Rico recognized from Mr. Gurley's car lot. Significantly, in no instance did Rico's testimony at trial directly contradict Odom's recollection of his interview. In Strickland, 466 U.S. at 692, 104 S.Ct. at 2067, 80 L.Ed.2d at 696, quoting Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 348-50, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1718-9, 64 L.Ed.2d 333, 346-7 (1980), the United States Supreme Court held that where there is an alleged conflict of interest, prejudice is presumed only if the defendant demonstrates that counsel `actively represented conflicting interests' and that `an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer's performance'. Here, there is no evidence that counsel experienced an actual conflict of interest, stemming from his interview with Rico, which adversely affected his performance at trial. Error is denied.