Opinion ID: 776874
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Worth's motivation

Text: 131 We also agree that pursuit of this plausible alternative strategy implicating Wiese would have been inherently in conflict with Worth's loyalty to the PBA (and, thus, with his self-interest) and that Worth's failure to pursue this strategy was almost certainly the result of this conflict. See Levy, 25 F.3d at 157. Critically, implicating a second officer in the assault would have supported Louima's claim in his civil case that he was assaulted both in the car and in the bathroom by multiple officers acting in furtherance of a conspiracy. Casting Volpe as an aberrant officer who acted alone, on the other hand, would likely have been consistent with any defense advanced in the civil case. Thus, the actual conflict created by the Louima civil suit sharply intensified at trial when Volpe — the only person who was indisputably in the bathroom with Louima — pleaded guilty and Volpe's counsel informed Worth that Volpe could provide testimony from which Worth could argue that Schwarz was not the second officer in the bathroom, a course clearly in Schwarz's interest. Indeed, to put Volpe on the stand to testify that there was in fact a second officer in the bathroom (who was not Schwarz) would plainly have been inherently in conflict with ... the attorney's other loyalties or interests, Winkler, 7 F.3d at 309 (internal quotation marks omitted), because it would have provided support for Louima's conspiracy claim in the civil suit against the PBA. 132 This conflict would seem to be the only possible explanation for why Worth did not pursue the strategy of implicating Wiese. No evidence in the record up to then supported the theory that Volpe acted alone, while both Louima's testimony and Volpe's potential testimony (following his plea) supported a finding that a second officer participated in the assault. Worth could have relied on Volpe's potential testimony, Louima's inability to identify Schwarz coupled with the fact that Wiese and Schwarz look similar, and Wiese's own statement that he had been the officer who escorted Louima to the restroom to argue with considerable force that the second officer was Wiese. In contrast, he could rely only upon an attack on Louima's credibility to support his argument that Volpe acted alone — a theory the district court deemed fanciful. Under these circumstances, we are convinced that no effective conflict-free defense attorney would have acted as Worth did, and, thus, only Worth's conflict could explain his actions. Cf. Ciak v. United States, 59 F.3d 296, 305 (2d Cir.1995) (finding that only an attorney's personal interest could explain a lengthy cross examination on an issue only marginally related to his client's guilt or innocence). 133 In short, we conclude that Worth's actual conflict adversely affected his performance in representing Schwarz. See Cuyler, 446 U.S. at 348, 100 S.Ct. 1708. Accordingly, we find that Schwarz has established a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel due to Worth's conflict unless, as the government maintains, Schwarz effectively waived the conflict at the Curcio hearing. We now turn to that question.