Opinion ID: 494571
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of counsel's advice

Text: 28 The court does not stop at finding a requirement that a waiver of the right to presence during jury selection must occur in open court and on the record. Quite apart from that, it would evidently decline to hold the waiver knowing and intelligent. Maj. at 126. This conclusion, resting on a careful hindsight examination of the advice supplied by Gordon's lawyer, makes an end-run around the law defining the effective assistance of counsel. 29 When he discovered that the panel of prospective jurors had been brought into the courtroom before Gordon, his lawyer doubtless could have formulated a broader set of choices for Gordon than he did. Besides the ones he presented--delaying his entrance until a jury had been selected (foregoing the right to participate) and entering under the wing of the marshals (revealing the fact of his custody)--there was the possibility of asking the judge to have the jury panel withdrawn, to allow Gordon to get settled in the courtroom, and then to bring the jury back. All this is obvious now, as we examine it free from the surprise created by the delay in securing Gordon's street clothes and the speed of the jury panel's appearance. 2 30 This evaluation of defendant's waiver is in substance an evaluation of the effectiveness of his counsel. Once Gordon's complaint is recognized as such, there can be little doubt that it fails. 3 To succeed on such a claim, a defendant must show first that counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and second that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different, id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. With regard to the first showing, Strickland makes plain that a court evaluating effectiveness must resolutely avoid the omniscience of hindsight: 31 Judicial scrutiny of counsel's performance must be highly deferential. It is all too tempting for a defendant to second-guess counsel's assistance after conviction or adverse sentence, and it is all too easy for a court, examining counsel's defense after it has proved unsuccessful, to conclude that a particular act or omission of counsel was unreasonable.... A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel's perspective at the time. Because of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy. 32 Id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065 (citation omitted). Further, the reviewing court must recognize that counsel is strongly presumed to have rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment. Id. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066; see United States v. Barbour, 813 F.2d 1232, 1234 (D.C.Cir.1987). 33 Here, the court characterizes the neglected alternative solution--a request that the court order the jurors' panel temporarily withdrawn to permit defendant to enter--as obvious. Maj. at 126. But that characterization, so easy from appellate chambers after perusal of the briefs and record, is based upon precisely what the Supreme Court forbade in Strickland: reliance on hindsight, second-guessing of counsel, and disregard of counsel's perspective at trial. The district court described appellant's retained counsel as very experienced and able, Mem. op. at 4, Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 139, and nothing in the record undermines that conclusion. Nor does anything suggest that counsel's judgment call troubled appellant until, after conviction, he and new counsel combed the record for possible error. When appellant first observed the jury selected in his absence, he asked for counsel's opinion of it. Counsel replied, Well, I got the best I could get. J.A. at 133. So far as appears, appellant did not at the time contest the judgment. 34 One can hardly disagree with the district court's own observation that the matter might have been handled better. Mem. op. at 7-8 n. 2, J.A. at 142-43 n. 2. But Strickland emphatically prohibits application of any such standard. By contrast, the majority's approach ignores the realities of trial and the frailties of human nature. Given the benefit of Strickland's strong presumption, defense counsel's advice on voir dire qualified as effective assistance of counsel, and the waiver was therefore necessarily knowing, voluntary and intelligent. 4 35 Since the first part of the Strickland test is not satisfied, it may be superfluous here to delve into the second part. The majority's harmless error standard, however, completely reverses the allocation of burden. While Strickland requires that the defendant prove prejudice, 466 U.S. at 693, 104 S.Ct. at 2067, the harmless error standard requires the government to show lack of harm beyond a reasonable doubt. 36 Further, Strickland instructs that in evaluating the impact of the challenged decision, the reviewing court must presume that the jury or judge acted according to law. Prejudice cannot be inferred merely because an alternative approach might have led to a favorable verdict because of the possibility of arbitrariness, whimsy, caprice, 'nullification,' and the like. A defendant has no entitlement to the luck of a lawless decisionmaker.... 466 U.S. at 695, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. Under the majority's approach, there appears to be such an entitlement. Here, the majority does not assert even a remote chance that the voir dire procedure here led to an incorrect verdict, merely that it deprived appellant of a possible fluke. For that fluke to take effect, defendant would have had to persuade counsel to exercise a peremptory challenge against the juror linked to law enforcement, and that juror's replacement would have either to have turned the jury around or at least (to secure a hung jury) to have held out for acquittal. 37 Astute counsel in this circuit will doubtless recognize the opportunities presented by this decision. Defendants who lose before the jury may now secure appellate review of any tactical decision made by counsel and defendant. That review may be conducted free of Strickland's limits, even though it will in essence be no more than a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. 38