Opinion ID: 1099664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: defendant's strategic conflict with appointed counsel.

Text: Defendant claims that the trial court erred in denying his attorney's motion to withdraw four days before trial based on irreconcilable conflicts between [himself] and Mr. Bridgewater. At a pre-trial, ex parte, sealed hearing, defense counsel clarified that the conflict arose out of defendant's wish to present a defense of total innocence and counsel's recommendation that defendant admit to second degree murder and argue that the requisite specific intent needed to prove first degree murder was lacking. As a general proposition, a criminal defendant has the right to counsel of his choice. State v. Leggett, 363 So.2d 434, 436 (La.1978); State v. Mackie, 352 So.2d 1297, 1300 (La.1977); State v. Anthony, 347 So.2d 483, 487 (La.1977). This right, however, is the flip-side of the right to self-representation. Like self-representation, this right cannot be manipulated to obstruct orderly court procedure or to interfere with the fair administration of justice. [20] Defendant must exercise his right to counsel of his choice at a reasonable time, in a reasonable manner and at an appropriate stage of the proceedings. State v. Seiss, 428 So.2d 444, 447 (La.1983). Absent a justifiable basis, [t]here is no constitutional right to make a new choice of counsel on the very date the trial is to begin, with the attendant necessity of a continuance and its disrupting implications. State v. Leggett, 363 So.2d at 436. A trial court's ruling on this issue will not be disturbed in the absence of a clear showing of abuse of discretion. State v. Cousin, 307 So.2d 326, 328 (La.1975). In the instant case, defendant voiced the same strategic conflict with prior counsel, Armato, as he had with his trial counsel, Dohre. Given that this was (as the state suggests) becoming a pattern, that defendant had already gone through two other attorneys, and that this capital murder trial was scheduled to begin in just four days, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion by denying defense counsel's motion to withdraw.