Opinion ID: 206571
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Goddard's Representation at the Hearing on His Motion to Withdraw His Guilty Plea

Text: Goddard's second argument is that he was denied his right to counsel at the plea-withdrawal hearing. He claims that: The court was well aware that Goddard alleged that [his] counsel was ineffective for misinforming him that he would not be taken into custody [following his guilty plea]. . . . Instead of assessing whether a conflict indeed existed, however, the court proceeded to conduct the plea-withdrawal hearing. This forced Goddard to act as his own attorney, contrary to his request for appointed counsel. Then, at the end of the hearing, the district court stated that counsel's motion to withdraw as Goddard's attorney was granted. Not only was this procedure backwards, it reveals that the district court concluded that Brown should no longer be Goddard's attorney precisely what should have been resolved at the outset. This claim is misleadingGoddard unquestionably had counsel at the plea-withdrawal hearing because the district court had not granted his attorney's motion to withdraw as counsel until after it denied Goddard's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Goddard's argument on appeal is that because he no longer wished to be represented by Attorney Brown at the time of the hearing on the motion to withdraw the guilty plea, Attorney Brown therefore had a conflict of interest in representing Goddard at the hearing and he was thereby constructively denied the assistance of counsel. Moreover, Goddard's argument on appeal that he was forced to argue in support of this motion pro se is contradicted by the record. Goddard only spoke to the court after Attorney Brown had argued the motion, the court had considered it, and the court had denied it. Consequently, Goddard's argument fails. We have previously held that where a district court is on notice of a criminal defendant's dissatisfaction with counsel, the court has an affirmative duty to inquire as to the source and nature of that dissatisfactionregardless of whether the attorney is court-appointed or privately retained. Rodriguez Benitez v. United States, 521 F.3d 625, 634 (6th Cir.2008). However, this rule is not implicated here because the district court's disposition of Goddard's motion to withdraw his plea before deciding whether to permit Attorney Brown to withdraw logically followed from Goddard's conduct. The record establishes that Goddard made two requests of Attorney Brown following his guilty plea: (1) that she file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and (2) that she seek to withdraw as counsel. Goddard did not ask that she withdraw as counsel and then seek new counsel to attempt to withdraw his pleathe requests were made simultaneously. Attorney Brown precisely followed Goddard's instructions: she filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and to withdraw as counsel in a single pleading. On appeal, Goddard argues that the district court should have considered the latter argument first and then appointed counsel to argue the former motion. But this would have thwarted Goddard's expressed desire and denied him the representation of the attorney he had retained [3] and implicitly wished to argue the motion. Had Goddard not wanted Attorney Brown to argue to the court that his guilty plea should have been withdrawn, he would not have specifically instructed her to file the motion and sent a letter to the court confirming this instruction. Quite obviously, if Attorney Brown sought to withdraw as counsel first, she could not have filed a motion to withdraw Goddard's plea. Consequently, our admonition to district courts in Rodriguez Benitez is not implicated here. In this case, the district court knew about Goddard's dissatisfaction with Attorney Brown, but it also knew that Goddard had directed her to file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, with the reasonable presumption that she, the author of that motion, would then argue it to the court. Further, neither Attorney Brown nor Goddard requested that another attorney argue the motion to withdraw the guilty plea at the hearing. Consequently, we review the district court's actions for plain error. United States v. Vonn, 535 U.S. 55, 66, 122 S.Ct. 1043, 152 L.Ed.2d 90 (2002) (A defendant's right to review of error he let pass in silence depends upon the plain error rule.). Had Goddard not wanted Attorney Brown to represent him at the hearing on his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, he could have said so or asked her to say so. The district court provided both Attorney Brown and Goddard an opportunity to be heard prior to ruling on the motion. [4] Instead, Goddard's conduct was in conformity with his expressed intention for Attorney Brown to file a motion to seek to withdraw his guilty plea. As the transcript reflects, the district court requested argument from Attorney Brown on the motion to withdraw the guilty plea and then, after she had presented the issue, addressed Goddard and specifically asked Mr. Goddard, do you have anything that you would like to say? and he responded No. At that juncture, Goddard could have quite easily replied: Yes, I want new counsel to argue my motion to withdraw my guilty plea. He did nothing of the sort. The district court then discussed the factors involved in a withdrawal of a guilty plea and denied the motion. Only then did Goddard request the opportunity to speak and the court permitted him to do so at length. And even at this time, Goddard did not complain that Attorney Brown had argued the motion to withdraw. Goddard instead complained at length about his inability to cooperate with the government and the contents of the plea agreement he had signed. We note that, in examining the particular factual circumstances underlying Goddard's motions to withdraw his plea and for substitute counsel, we are not crafting an exception to the general principle that a district court must make inquiries into a defendant's motion to withdraw his counsel before the court proceeds to a critical stage of the proceedings. Instead, we find that Goddard's argument that he was denied representation at the hearing on his motion to withdraw his guilty plea fails because Goddard unquestionably had representation at the hearing, and the district court effectively addressed Goddard's motion for substitute counsel before it proceeded to the next stage of the proceedings, namely Goddard's sentencing hearing. [5] For these reasons, we AFFIRM.