Opinion ID: 1744864
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: assignment number four

Text: In this assignment of error, the defendants contend that the trial court erred in appointing one attorney to represent both of them, thereby depriving them of the right to conflict free representation. After the defendants' retained attorney withdrew from the case, the trial judge set a date for the determination of counsel. On that date, the defendants stated that they intended to retain an attorney within a day or two. When the defendants appeared four days later without counsel, the trial judge appointed an attorney to represent both defendants. There was no objection at that time to the dual representation. The defendants now contend that the joint representation deprived them of effective assistance of counsel. Multiple representation is not per se illegal and does not violate the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or Article 1, Section 3 of the Louisiana Constitution unless it gives rise to a conflict of interest. State v. Ross, 410 So.2d 1388 (La. 1982). See J. Cook, Constitutional Rights of the AccusedTrial Rights § 46 at p. 156 (1974). The relationship between joint representation and ineffective assistance of counsel has been thoroughly examined by the United States Supreme Court in its opinions rendered in Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475 [98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426] (1978), and Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335 [100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333] (1980). In Holloway, defendant raised the issue of a conflict of interest prior to a joint trial. In this situation, the Court held that the trial judge is required either to appoint separate counsel or to take adequate steps to ascertain whether the risk (of a conflict of interest) was too remote to warrant separate counsel. In Sullivan, the defendant did not raise the issue of conflict of interest either before and during his separate trial. Rather, the defendant, as in the instant case, raised the issue for the first time after his trial. In this situation, the Court held that a defendant in order to establish a violation of the Sixth Amendment ... must demonstrate that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer's performance. In addition, the Court held that [u]nless the trial court knows or reasonably should know a particular conflict exists, the court need not initiate an inquiry. See also Wood v. Georgia, 450 U.S. 261 [101 S.Ct. 1097, 67 L.Ed.2d 220] (1981). Recently, in State v. Marshall, supra [414 So.2d 684 (La.1982)], we held that the time at which a concern over the effects of multiple representation is raised is the determinative factor in deciding whether the rules of Holloway or Sullivan are controlling. State v. Edwards, 430 So.2d 60 (La.1983). See State v. Marshall, 414 So.2d 684 (La. 1982). See also United States v. Crossman, 663 F.2d 607 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 977, 102 S.Ct. 2243, 72 L.Ed.2d 851 (1982). Therefore, in a case such as the present one, where the record does not establish that pretrial notification of the possibility of a conflict of interest was given to the court, the defendant must prove that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer's performance. State v. Rowe, 416 So.2d 87 (La.1982). An actual conflict of interest is established when the defendant proves that his attorney was placed in a situation inherently conducive to divided loyalties. Zuck v. Alabama, 588 F.2d 436 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 833, 100 S.Ct. 63, 62 L.Ed.2d 42 (1979). If a defense attorney owes duties to a party whose interests are adverse to those of the defendant, then an actual conflict exists. The interest of the other client and the defendant are sufficiently adverse if it is shown that the attorney owes a duty to the defendant to take some action that could be detrimental to his other client. 588 F.2d at 439. When there is such a conflict of interest, the prejudice may be subtle, even unconscious. It may elude detection on review. A reviewing court deals with a cold record, capable, perhaps, of exposing gross instances of incompetence but often giving no clue to the erosion of zeal which may ensue from divided loyalty. Accordingly, where the conflict is real, a denial of effective representation exists without a showing of specific prejudice. Castillo v. Estelle, 504 F.2d 1243, 1245 (5th Cir.1974). See also Zuck v. Alabama, supra, 588 F.2d at 436. A reviewing court cannot, however, presume that joint representation and the possibility of a conflict has resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel. Multiple representation may even be desirable for a particular defendant as a means of insuring against reciprocal recrimination in cases where a common defense gives strength against a common attack. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 92, 62 S.Ct. 457, 475, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942), Frankfurter, J., dissenting. The defendants argue that it is obvious that a conflict of interest caused by the dual representation existed because (1) since each defendant testified in the case, each was denied effective cross-examination of the other, and (2) each defendant was limited to the development of a theory of his or her defense which would be compatible with the other. Applying the test we have outlined above for the determination of whether an actual conflict of interest existed, we conclude that the defendants have failed to meet their burden. The defense offered by both defendants in this case was that the child died from other causes and that their strict religious beliefs in discipline were the motivation for their mistreatment of the child, rather than a specific intent to kill him or to inflict great bodily harm. The defendants' positions were compatible and entirely consistent, and they have not alleged antagonistic defenses. State v. Edwards, supra . Nothing in the record suggests that one of the defendants tried to shift the blame to the other. Mere allegations that one codefendant intends to point an accusatory finger at the other codefendant as his defense will not be sufficient to support a case for actual conflict of interest. Cf. State v. Medlock, 297 So.2d 190 (La.1974). The defendant's argument that effective cross-examination of the codefendant was denied and compatible defenses were thus demanded is an argument that can be made in any multiple representation case. State v. Ross, supra . The defendants have not distinguished the instant case by demonstrating the existence of a duty on the part of their attorney to take some action that would have been detrimental to one of the codefendants. Zuck v. Alabama, supra . The possibility that another approach should be used in a trial with better results to a defendant exists in every case and is far from making out a deprivation of a constitutional right. State v. Edwards, supra ; United States v. Foster, 469 F.2d 1 (1st Cir.1973). The defendants made no showing of how they would have benefited from another strategy. State v. Edwards, supra . Nor does our own review reveal an actual conflict. Nothing in the record suggests that any of the common situations usually required for conflict of interest existed. One of the defendants was not induced to plead guilty adversely to his interests; a confession of one defendant was not introduced into evidence which inculpated another defendant; testimony of one defendant did not clear the other defendant but inculpate himself; one defendant did not place primary blame on the other, nor did a witness; one defendant did not benefit from compelling the other to testify; counsel for defendant did not also represent a witness for the prosecution, or for the defense; the codefendants did not have conflicting defenses, the codefendants were equally involved in the crime, they did not have disparate criminal records; charges were not dismissed against one defendant on the condition that he testify for the prosecution. See J. Cook, supra at 158-61. It has sometimes been held that joint representation of a husband and wife is a situation inherently conducive to conflict of interest. J. Cook, supra, at 160. The rationale for such a finding is that, under those circumstances, one of the parties may shift the blame, either out of domination or martyrdom. See e.g. People v. Ramsey, 17 Cal.App.3d 731, 95 Cal.Rptr. 231 (1971), United States v. Pinc, 452 F.2d 507 (5th Cir.1971). But see Boehmer v. United States, 414 F.Supp. 766 (E.D.Pa.1976); People v. Seymour, 182 Colo. 262, 512 P.2d 635 (1973). We find no evidence that either of the codefendants in this case tried to shift the blame to the other, or to him or her self. Since the defendants did not urge the existence of a conflict of interest before this appeal, and they have failed to demonstrate the existence of an actual conflict of interest, this assignment of error lacks merit.