Opinion ID: 739733
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Right to Assistance of Counsel During Trial

Text: 22 The Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to confer with counsel during trial. The Supreme Court has held this right to be violated by a trial court's order that a testifying defendant not confer with his attorney during an overnight recess between the defendant's direct and cross-examination. Geders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80, 91, 96 S.Ct. 1330, 1336-37, 47 L.Ed.2d 592 (1976). 23 The district court did not prevent Miguel from conferring with counsel. Miguel had two counsel, only one of whom cross-examined the child witness. Nothing in the district court's directions precluded the non-questioning counsel, who had represented Miguel in his first trial, from joining Miguel in his separate room during the deposition. The district court also permitted cross-examining counsel to confer with Miguel during breaks or to request recesses for that purpose, although counsel availed herself of neither opportunity. We therefore are faced with nothing on the order of Geders. 24 In contrast to Geders, the Supreme Court permitted a trial court to prohibit a defendant from talking to counsel during a fifteen-minute recess between his direct testimony and cross-examination. Perry v. Leeke, 488 U.S. 272, 109 S.Ct. 594, 102 L.Ed.2d 624 (1989). The result in Perry depended, however, on the fact that a defendant is not entitled to confer with counsel during the defendant's testimony, id. at 281, 109 S.Ct. at 600, a consideration that does not come into play in Miguel's case. In distinguishing the defendant's right to confer with counsel during an overnight recess, the Court stated that in the course of such a long recess the defendant would be likely to confer on matters that the defendant does have a constitutional right to discuss with his lawyer, such as the availability of other witnesses, trial tactics, or even the possibility of negotiating a plea bargain. Id. at 284, 109 S.Ct. at 602. Miguel, of course, was not prevented by the district court from conferring with his counsel on all of these matters, even during the deposition, either by having one of his counsel stay with him or by conferring during breaks. The only thing he was prevented from doing was communicating with one of his two counsel while that counsel was questioning the witness. 25 Had a second attorney not been available to Miguel, Miguel's inability to communicate contemporaneously with his counsel or to initiate a break in the deposition for purposes of conferring with counsel would have raised extremely serious Sixth Amendment problems. Although defendants' ability to communicate with counsel during trial or depositions lawfully may be restricted because of the defendants' own choice or obstreperous conduct, see Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 344, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 1061, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970); Sines, 761 F.2d at 1434, the ability to communicate with counsel remains one of the defendant's primary advantages of being present at the trial. Allen, 397 U.S. at 344, 90 S.Ct. at 1061. Except when the defendant is testifying, or during brief recesses in that testimony, the defendant enjoys a right to unrestricted access to his lawyer for advice on a variety of trial-related matters. Perry, 488 U.S. at 284, 109 S.Ct. at 602. Miguel cannot be said to have had unrestricted access if he lacked any means of initiating communication with counsel during cross-examination of the government's crucial witness. 26 Miguel had two lawyers, however, and nothing in the district court's directions would have prevented one of them from remaining in the room with Miguel during the televised testimony. He then would have had unrestricted access to the assistance of counsel. That counsel's assistance in the examination of the witness would not have been without restriction, because that counsel presumably also would not have had a means of contemporaneous communication with co-counsel in the courtroom. 4 Nevertheless, Miguel would be very much better off than if he were alone. He could discuss with counsel anything in the witness's testimony that appeared remarkable to him, or any other matter, and he could request counsel to initiate a break in the proceedings if it appeared advisable. Conferring counsel would then have been free, as Miguel was not, to walk or run down the hall to the courtroom to notify co-counsel to request a recess. 27 The delay inherent in such a procedure is not without its problems. See Myles v. State, 602 So.2d 1278, 1280 (Fla.1992) (procedure allowing defendant during televised testimony to communicate with counsel only by oral messages transmitted by bailiff violated Florida's constitutional right of assistance of counsel). Nevertheless, Miguel in that situation would have been able to consult with counsel, and any delay in communication between counsel is more properly viewed as an interference with the right of cross-examination than as a denial of the assistance of counsel. As we have pointed out, the interference with the right of cross-examination in this case was harmless under Van Arsdall. In contrast,  '[a]ctual or constructive denial of the assistance of counsel altogether'  is reversible without a showing of prejudice. Perry, 488 U.S. at 280, 109 S.Ct. at 599-600 (quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 692, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2067, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984)). Because nothing prevented Miguel from the company and advice of counsel, he did not suffer a denial of the assistance of counsel altogether so as to require reversal with no showing of prejudice. Cf. United States v. Lucas, 873 F.2d 1279, 1280 (9th Cir.1989). As we have already pointed out, Miguel has made no showing of prejudice; the district court's error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.