Opinion ID: 1479756
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts and trial court proceedings

Text: Appellant was arrested on July 12, 1979, and detained in lieu of posting a $5,000 surety bond in connection with charges arising from two separate crimes, an armed assault and an armed robbery. A grand jury later returned a five count indictment charging appellant with one count of armed assault with intent to kill, D.C.Code §§ 22-501, -3202 (1973); one count of armed assault with intent to rob, id. §§ 22-501, -3202; one count of armed robbery, id. §§ 22-2901, -3202; one count of carrying a pistol without a license, id. § 22-3204; and one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle, id. § 22-2204 (Supp. V 1978). [1] Soon after his arrest, appellant retained Gerald Kane, a member of the District of Columbia Bar. Kane first entered his appearance at a preliminary hearing on July 18, 1979, and one week later filed a bond review motion for appellant's release into third party custody. The trial court denied this motion and placed appellant in a Department of Corrections halfway house. On May 8, 1980, the court granted a second bond review motion filed by Kane and released appellant pending trial into the third party custody of his parents. In September 1980, appellant failed to appear for a scheduled court date; the trial court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. Appellant was apprehended on March 16, 1982, and charged with violating provisions of the Bail Reform Act (BRA), D.C.Code § 23-1327 (1981). Although the court initially joined the BRA charge with appellant's earlier charges, the BRA charge was later severed and is not at issue in this appeal. Appellant's case was assigned to Judge Hannon, who imposed a $25,000 surety bond and scheduled trial for September 1981. Kane appeared on appellant's behalf at a number of proceedings related to the BRA charge and to the setting of bond, and continued to represent appellant on the charges contained in the original indictment. Because appellant was unable to post bond, he remained incarcerated awaiting trial. During the spring and early summer of 1981, appellant sent a number of letters to Judge Hannon's chambers. In them, he offered an explanation for his failure to appear for his scheduled court date and requested a reduction of bond. While the first two letters did not mention appellant's attorney, each of three later letters contained some reference to appellant's belief that Kane was not exerting sufficient effort to obtain a bond reduction. At no point, however, did appellant indicate that he wanted Kane removed as his attorney or that he wanted the court to appoint new counsel. Kane did, in fact, file a motion to reduce bond on July 10, 1981. That motion was denied. At a status hearing on July 13, 1981, Judge Scott, substituting for Judge Hannon, informed Kane of appellant's complaints about his failure to obtain a reduction of appellant's bond. Judge Scott then questioned appellant and ascertained that appellant wished to continue to trial with Kane as his attorney. Judge Scott concluded that there was no basis for finding ineffective assistance of counsel, and he permitted Kane to remain as appellant's attorney. Judge Scott, nonetheless, did indicate that he would refer appellant's complaints about Kane to the Office of Bar Counsel. After the July 13 status hearing, and at Judge Scott's request, the Office of Bar Counsel contacted appellant, asking if he wished to file a complaint against Kane. Appellant filed a complaint, alleging principally that Kane had failed to make diligent efforts for pretrial release. Neither Kane nor the trial court was informed about this complaint before trial began. The court reached appellant's case for trial on September 9, 1981. Before proceeding with jury selection, Judge Hannon raised the issue of appellant's dissatisfaction with Kane, as reflected in the letters to the court several months earlier. Although Judge Scott previously had questioned appellant about these letters, Judge Hannon decided to conduct a hearing, pursuant to this court's holdings in Monroe v. United States, 389 A.2d 811 (D.C.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1006, 99 S.Ct. 621, 58 L.Ed.2d 683 (1978), and Farrell v. United States, 391 A.2d 755 (D.C.1978), to determine whether Kane's pretrial representation was `within the range of competence demanded of attorneys in criminal cases.' Farrell, 391 A.2d at 762 (quoting McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 771, 90 S.Ct. 1441, 1449, 25 L.Ed.2d 763 (1970)). In response to a series of questions from the court, appellant indicated that he and Kane had discussed the case fully and that he wished to proceed to trial with Kane as his attorney. Judge Hannon, finding that Kane was prepared to render effective representation at trial, ordered that the trial go forward. After a jury had been selected and sworn, both the government and defense presented opening statements. Kane's opening statement set forth the defense theory, arguing that one of the government's principal witnesses  appellant's former girl friend  had committed the crimes charged and was now attempting to frame appellant in order to exculpate herself. The government called as its first witness one of the two complainants, who testified that he had been the victim of an armed robbery. This witness did not make an in-court identification of appellant, and his testimony concerning two attempted out-of-court identification procedures reflected serious uncertainty as to the witness' ability to recognize his assailant. On cross-examination, Kane used several impeachment techniques to discredit the witness' testimony. Following this testimony, the court adjourned for the day. On the morning of the second day of trial, Kane informed the court that he had just received a letter from the Office of Bar Counsel notifying him of appellant's complaint. The letter stated that Bar Counsel was opening an inquiry into Kane's conduct, that Kane had a right to counsel of his choice, and that Kane should submit within ten days a written response to appellant's grievances. Appellant confirmed that he had filed a complaint with Bar Counsel several weeks before trial. He indicated, however, that he had understood Bar Counsel would not notify Kane of the complaint until after an investigation had been conducted, and that the existence of the complaint would not interfere with his trial. Appellant informed the court: I would like to keep Mr. Kane  and continue this trial. Kane's position before the court was also unequivocal: It's my candid desire that, if humanly possible, for the trial to go forward. Judge Hannon responded to this development by noting that commencement of the Bar Counsel inquiry presented issues substantially different from those considered at the Monroe/Farrell hearing the previous day. Although he reaffirmed his earlier ruling that Kane's pretrial conduct did not constitute ineffective assistance and did not compromise Kane's ability to continue with the trial, [2] Judge Hannon concluded that the Bar Counsel inquiry amounted to an adversary proceeding between appellant and Kane and thus created a conflict of interest for Kane. At the outset, the court noted that this conflict of interest could not be resolved simply because appellant retained confidence in Kane's ability to represent him at trial. The court stated it is entirely clear to this [c]ourt that ... so long as that adversary proceeding exists in the Office of the Bar Counsel, that this case cannot go forward with Mr. Kane representing [the defendant]. Judge Hannon next recognized that this court's holdings in Monroe and Farrell ordinarily require a full hearing when a potential issue of ineffectiveness of counsel is brought to the court's attention. Upon further consideration, however, he decided that a hearing would be purposeless in this case; he felt he had no alternative to declaring a mistrial: [N]o matter what kind of an inquiry this [c]ourt can make at this time.... so long as the adversary proceeding is pending before the Office of Bar Counsel, there is a conflict of interest between the rights of the defendant... and the rights of Gerald Kane as an attorney.       [Defendant] may very well want to keep [Kane]. But, so long as those proceedings are before the Bar Counsel, [defendant] may not keep him.       I am not going to let an adversary proceeding between your client and the United States go forward here with you representing him while there's an adversary proceeding pending between you and the Office of Bar Counsel. That is a clear conflict of interest that's against all the canons of ethics that you and I have ever read; and I have no alternative, sir. I have no options in the matter; and that's all there is to that. Without conducting any inquiry into whether appellant wished to waive his right to conflict-free counsel, and without making any finding of fact on this matter, Judge Hannon sua sponte declared a mistrial. [3] We are thus confronted with the question whether appellant can be brought to trial again.