Opinion ID: 375749
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Use by Counsel of Alcohol and Drugs

Text: 17 In support of his motion for a new trial on grounds of ineffective assistance, Swinehart also filed an affidavit in which he alleged that his attorney was habitually late to trial and consistently drank liquor and used drugs during the trial. The district court held a hearing on these allegations at which Swinehart appeared as the sole witness. In a footnote to his order denying the motion, the trial judge discredited Swinehart's view of his counsel's physical condition: 18 During and throughout the trial, neither the court nor its personnel observed defendant's counsel use alcoholic beverages or drugs nor did said counsel appear at any time to be under the influence thereof either by way of slurring or impediment of speech, impairment of motion, odor or otherwise. Tardiness of defendant's counsel was, in each instance, satisfactorily explained to the Court and at no time was the jury advised that any delay in the trial was due to the tardiness of defendant's counsel. 19 Judge Sloviter urges us not to entertain the appeal on this question because, in her view, there was not a full and fair hearing on the question of defense counsel's alleged inebriation, and therefore it would be better to consider the issue for the first time on a § 2255 motion. Swinehart raised this question in the district court as one of the grounds for his motion for a new trial. It was resolved by the district judge, and Swinehart appealed the court's decision on this very point. Under these circumstances, and because we cannot completely decide this appeal without resolving each basis for the ineffective assistance of counsel claim, we are constrained to adjudicate the inebriation question in the form in which it has been presented to us. The alternative is to abjure our duty to decide an issue over which we have jurisdiction. 21 20 It is also not clear that remitting criminal appellants, whose ineffective assistance of counsel claims were not fully presented in the trial court, to the § 2255 forum would conserve judicial resources. In order to decide whether a claim was accorded full and fair consideration, we would have to review and assess the trial record just as we do in actually adjudicating the appeal. Thus, any saving of resources at the appeal stage by postponing resolution might well be illusory. Moreover, the suggestion that we defer adjudicating until a § 2255 motion is filed might, in some cases, result in duplication of judicial effort. If this Court on appeal denies an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, and the appellant subsequently brings a § 2255 motion that is premised solely on the same allegations that were adjudicated and rejected on appeal, then the district court would be able to dismiss the § 2255 motion based on the decision of the previous panel. 22 In contrast, if on direct appeal we reviewed the ineffective assistance claim, but declined to adjudicate it because there was not a full hearing in the trial court, we would have expended our resources without giving the § 2255 district court guidance, thereby requiring the latter to conduct a full, de novo inquiry into the identical, previously litigated claims. Thus, we conclude that judicial economy, as well as our duty to decide all issues necessary to the resolution of an appeal, require us to resolve, to the extent that they were decided by the trial court and raised on the present appeal, all of Swinehart's ineffective assistance of counsel claims. 23 21 We thus turn to the merits of this aspect of Swinehart's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Inasmuch as the district court was acting as a finder of fact in considering this matter, we will not overturn its decision in this regard unless it is clearly erroneous. 24 Based on the record that is available to us, it would appear that Swinehart had the opportunity to present testimony, expert and nonexpert, in support of his allegation that his trial counsel was inebriated. Swinehart apparently declined to do this and instead called only one witness himself. 25 The district judge, who had ample occasion to observe the behavior of Swinehart's counsel during the course of the trial, rejected Swinehart's contention. Based on the record, we are unable to say that his finding in this respect is clearly erroneous. Accordingly, we do not hold, at least at this time, that the court erred in rejecting Swinehart's ineffective assistance claim. 26