Opinion ID: 2003518
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Per se Sixth Amendment Violation

Text: Defendant maintains that the Lake County public defender's office was deficient in the areas of training, supervision and the use of investigative and mitigation services in capital cases, and that attorney Pantsios personally lacked adequate training in defense of capital cases. Defendant submits that these circumstances constitute resource deprivation and give rise to a per se violation of the sixth amendment right to counsel. As has been seen, ineffective-assistance claims are ordinarily evaluated in accordance with the Strickland test which requires a showing of deficient performance and resultant prejudice. However, defendant cites United States v. Cronic (1984), 466 U.S. 648, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657, which noted that in some situations ineffective assistance may be presumed without inquiry into counsel's actual performance. In Cronic, the defendant was charged with mail fraud in connection with a check kiting scheme. An inexperienced lawyer with a real estate practice was appointed substitute counsel for the accused and was afforded 25 days to prepare for trial. The Cronic Court indicated that [c]ircumstances    may be present on some occasions when although counsel is available to assist the accused during trial, the likelihood that any lawyer, even a fully competent one, could provide effective assistance is so small that a presumption of prejudice is appropriate without inquiry into the actual conduct of the trial. ( Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659-60,104 S.Ct. at 2047, 80 L.Ed.2d at 668.) To illustrate, the Cronic Court cited Powell v. Alabama (1932), 287 U.S. 45, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158. In Powell the defendants had been indicted for a highly publicized capital crime. Six days before trial, the trial court appointed all members of the bar for purposes of arraignment. On the day of trial an out-of-State attorney appeared in court, but indicated that he was unwilling to assume the defense of the accused because he was unfamiliar with the case and local procedures. Notwithstanding his protestations, the attorney was appointed to represent the defendants with whatever help the local bar could provide. In the Cronic Court's view, these circumstances in Powell justified a presumption of prejudice. In Cronic itself, however, the Court found that the circumstances surrounding the defendant's representation the lawyer's level of experience and the time for trial preparationdid not justify a similar presumption. With regard to the former circumstance, the Court stated that [t]he character of a particular lawyer's experience may shed light in an evaluation of his actual performance, but it does not justify a presumption of ineffectiveness in the absence of such an evaluation. Cronic, 466 U.S. at 665, 104 S.Ct. at 2050, 80 L.Ed.2d at 672. The per se approach suggested in Cronic is in all events the exception, not the rule. ( Scarpa v. Dubois (1st Cir.1994), 38 F.3d 1, 12.) We believe the exception is properly limited to cases involving circumstances of a similar magnitude to those in Powell. Moreover, the character of the circumstances, as well as their magnitude, is significant. The per se approach is available when the circumstances are such that any lawyer, even a fully competent one would be unlikely to be able to provide effective assistance. ( Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659-60, 104 S.Ct. at 2047, 80 L.Ed.2d at 668.) Thus, Cronic contemplates an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the defendant's representation in a particular case; it does not envision scrutiny of the attorney's overall competence. Consequently, the lawyer's lack of relevant practice experience in Cronic was viewed by the Court as a factor in evaluating his actual performance, but did not justify a presumption of ineffective assistance of counsel. While defendant styles his claim as one of resource deprivation, the thrust of his allegations goes to a narrow aspect of the overall competence of his attorneys and the Lake County public defender's office to represent capital defendants. (There appears to be no dispute that the attorneys were experienced and capable in the area of criminal defense generally.) The general allegations in this case of inadequate training and deficient office practices do not demonstrate circumstances of either the character or magnitude that would give rise to a per se ineffective assistance of counsel claim.