Opinion ID: 1351343
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The appointment of the public defender.

Text: (1) Defendant argues that the trial court abused its discretion when, at the arraignment of May 17, 1982, it appointed the public defender to represent defendant on the murder charges. He asserts that the deputy public defender who represented him at the bank robbery prosecution had not afforded him competent representation, and, unknown to defendant, had been negotiating for a position with the district attorney. Defendant had filed a petition for habeas corpus with the federal district court alleging that his bank robbery conviction should be overturned because of incompetence and conflict of interest on the part of the deputy. (The petition was denied two days after the arraignment.) Defendant argues that his counsel in the present case may have wanted to attack the validity of the bank robbery conviction; however, this would have placed the deputy in a position where he had to attack the competence of a former colleague. [2] Also, the deputy public defender appearing at arraignment told the court that defendant had experienced difficulty in past communications with the public defender's staff, and had refused to communicate with them about the present case. A similar issue arose before the Illinois Supreme Court three years ago. ( People v. Banks (1987) 121 Ill.2d 36 [520 N.E.2d 617].) In that case defendant objected to the appointment of an assistant public defender to represent him in postconviction proceedings, because the appointee would have to attack the competence of trial counsel, an assistant public defender from the same office. The court refused to presume that public defenders would allow any office allegiances to interfere with their foremost obligation to their clients. (520 N.E.2d at p. 620.) Rejecting a rule of per se disqualification, the court mandated disqualification only if defendant suggested particular circumstances showing actual conflict of interest. (P. 621.) We agree with the Illinois Supreme Court that a rule of automatic disqualification is unnecessary, and would hamper the ability of public defenders' offices to represent indigents in criminal cases. It would be particularly inappropriate in the present case, since the deputy public defender whose competence might have been under attack was no longer with that office. Since defendant has not shown any personal or professional relationship suggestive of a conflict of interest between the deputies actually representing him in this case and the departed deputy who had represented him in the bank robbery trial, we conclude that the trial court was not required to find a conflict of interest barring appointment of the public defender. Defendant's distrust of the public defender, and consequent difficulty in communicating with the deputies, is a matter for the trial court to consider as part of its discretionary decision in appointing counsel. (See Drumgo v. Superior Court (1973) 8 Cal.3d 930, 934-935 [106 Cal. Rptr. 631, 506 P.2d 1007, 66 A.L.R.3d 984], in which we upheld the court's ruling appointing counsel even though Drumgo, like the defendant in the present case, insisted that he distrusted and would not cooperate with the attorney the court appointed.) We do not perceive that difficulties between defendant and the public defender had reached the level of irreconcilable conflict precluding the effective assistance of counsel, as in People v. Stankewitz (1982) 32 Cal.3d 80, 94 [184 Cal. Rptr. 611, 648 P.2d 578, 23 A.L.R.4th 476] and Brown v. Craven (9th Cir.1970) 424 F.2d 1166, 1170. [3]