Opinion ID: 1377985
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: contrasting views

Text: It is argued that life-story fee contracts are inherently prejudicial, unethical, and against public policy and that the judge has power and the duty to protect the integrity of the trial and, thus, confidence in the judicial process. Do those concerns perhaps outweigh a single defendant's interest in chosen counsel? Contracts of this kind are widely criticized. It is said they tempt lawyers, consciously or subconsciously and adversely to the client's interests, to tilt the defense for commercial reasons. (See, e.g., Wojtowicz v. United States (2d Cir.1977) 550 F.2d 786, 793, cert. den. 431 U.S. 972 [53 L.Ed.2d 1071, 97 S.Ct. 2938]; Ray v. Rose (6th Cir.1976) 535 F.2d 966, 974, cert. den., 429 U.S. 1026 [50 L.Ed.2d 629, 97 S.Ct. 648]; United States v. Hearst (N.D.Cal. 1978) 466 F. Supp. 1068, 1083 [53 A.L.R.Fed. 110] revd. on other grounds (9th Cir.1980) 638 F.2d 1190, 1193, cert. den. (1981) 451 U.S. 938 [68 L.Ed.2d 325, 101 S.Ct. 2018]; People v. Corona, supra, 80 Cal. App.3d 684, 720; ABA Code of Prof. Responsibility, EC (Ethical Consideration) 5-4; ABA Proposed Model Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.9(d) and com. thereto.) [5] They do present a threat that counsel might provide deficient representation. They also raise questions under the California Rules of Professional Conduct. [6] (Cf. Comment, The Lawyer's Moral Paradox 1979 Duke L.J. 1335. [7] ) Some precedents recognize a court's power to recuse an attorney so as to help ensure a fair trial and preserve judicial integrity. Comden v. Superior Court (1978) 20 Cal.3d 906 [145 Cal. Rptr. 9, 576 P.2d 971, 5 A.L.R.4th 562] approved a judge's order that attorneys withdraw from a civil case because a member of their firm would likely be a witness. The majority noted that generally both California and American Bar Association standards required withdrawal of an attorney in those circumstances. [U]ltimately the issue involves a conflict between a client's right to counsel of his choice and the need to maintain ethical standards of professional responsibility. `The preservation of public trust both in the scrupulous administration of justice and in the integrity of the bar is paramount.... [The client's recognizably important right to counsel of his choice] must yield, however, to considerations of ethics which run to the very integrity of our judicial process.' ... (P. 915.) People v. Superior Court ( Greer ) (1977) 19 Cal.3d 255 [137 Cal. Rptr. 476, 561 P.2d 1164] upheld dismissal of a district attorney on grounds of personal bias against defendant. The opinion stressed the trial court's strong interest in assuring the prosecutor's impartiality and noted inter alia the American Bar Association's stricture against prosecutorial conflicts of interest. (Pp. 263-264, 269.) Occasionally this court has isolated instances in which appointed counsel faced potential conflicts so inherent and serious as to invalidate any subsequent conviction, regardless of proof of adverse effect on counsel's performance in the case. People v. Rhodes (1974) 12 Cal.3d 180 [115 Cal. Rptr. 235, 524 P.2d 363] held that a city attorney with prosecutorial responsibilities may not be appointed to defend indigent criminal defendants. And in People v. Barboza (1981) 29 Cal.3d 375 [173 Cal. Rptr. 458, 627 P.2d 188] we found inherent and irreconcilable conflicts in a budgetary scheme that discouraged the public defender from urging his own disqualification in multiple-representation cases. (P. 381.) None of those cases compels or authorizes a dismissal here. In Greer defendants filed the recusal motion; there was no question of any dismissal over their objection or of intrusion on their right to chosen counsel. Moreover, disqualification of a biased prosecutor was justified on the ground that his duties extended far beyond those of the typical advocate. Because he represented a sovereignty with paramount responsibility for penal fairness his impartiality was fundamental to the truth-finding goal of the criminal justice system. (19 Cal.3d at pp. 266-267.) Rhodes and Barboza addressed defendants' posttrial challenges to their appointed counsel. Again no interference with chosen legal representatives was involved. We stressed in Barboza that the hidden conflict inherent in the budget provisions there at issue would be more readily apparent to defendants who had retained their attorneys. (P. 379.) [8] Comden, supra, 20 Cal.3d 906, suggested that in civil matters the right to chosen counsel may be weighed strictly against competing considerations of conflict of interest, professional ethics, and judicial integrity. [9] (5) We now conclude, however, that, with exceptions set forth in this opinion, the mere possibility of a conflict does not warrant pretrial removal of competent counsel in a criminal case over defendant's informed objection. [10] When the possibility of significant conflict has been brought to the court's attention and the danger of proceeding with chosen counsel has been disclosed generally to defendant, he may insist on retaining his attorneys if he waives the conflict knowingly and intelligently for purposes of the criminal trial. [11] To the extent People v. Municipal Court ( Wolfe ) (1977) 69 Cal. App.3d 714, 719-720 [138 Cal. Rptr. 235] suggests a contrary conclusion it is disapproved. (6) As in other cases involving forfeiture of the right to counsel, waiver of potential conflicts may not be inferred from a silent record. ( Carnley v. Cochran (1962) 369 U.S. 506, 516-517 [8 L.Ed.2d 70, 77-78, 82 S.Ct. 884]; Chacon, supra, 69 Cal.2d 765, 774.) When substantial risks of conflict are brought to the court's attention before trial but an adequate waiver of defendant's effective-assistance rights cannot be obtained on the record, the court must presume that he has not knowingly and intelligently chosen to proceed with retained counsel. (See People v. Carter (1967) 66 Cal.2d 666, 670 [58 Cal. Rptr. 614, 427 P.2d 214].) The court may then protect the record and defendant's right to effective assistance by requiring counsel's withdrawal. (See United States v. Dolan (3d Cir.1978) 570 F.2d 1177, 1182; Geer, Representation of Multiple Criminal Defendants: Conflicts of Interest and the Professional Responsibilities of the Defense Attorney (1978) 62 Minn.L.Rev. 119, 148-151.) [12] (1b) In this case, extensive pretrial disclosures about conflicts arising from the fee contract were made on the record to both petitioner and court. Yet petitioner insisted on proceeding with his counsel. Did that insistence constitute an adequate waiver, precluding counsel's removal? We believe that it did. In determining whether a waiver of potential conflicts is knowing, intelligent, and unconditional, the trial court must navigate adroitly between the Scylla of denying a defendant the right to determine his own fate and the Charybdis of violating his right to counsel.... (See Carter, supra, 66 Cal.2d at p. 667.) Some federal cases have implied that the court's inquiry must separately explore each foreseeable conflict and consequence and that defendant's waiver may extend only to matters discussed in detail on the record. (E.g., United States v. Eaglin (9th Cir.1977) 571 F.2d 1069, 1086 [49 A.L.R.Fed 786]; United States v. Dolan, supra, 570 F.2d 1177, 1181-1182; United States v. Garcia (5th Cir.1975) 517 F.2d 272, 278.) It also has been suggested that defendant must express in his own words his understanding of what he has been told. ( Dolan, supra, at p. 1182; Garcia, supra, 517 F.2d 272, 278; cf., Fed. Rules Crim. Proc., rule 11.) Rules that are that strict seem neither necessary nor workable. Not all imaginable consequences of a conflict that inheres in a life-story contract can be predicted before trial. Indeed, much of the information needed to assess the impact of the conflict on defendant's case may be privileged. (See Cook, supra, 13 Cal.3d at p. 672, fn. 7; Dolan, supra, at pp. 1181-1182; Geer, supra, 62 Minn.L.Rev. at pp. 148-151.) In the parallel area of self-representation, waivers have been deemed sufficient where defendant was warned of the general danger of proceeding on his own. (See, e.g., People v. Teron (1979) 23 Cal.3d 103, 108-109 [151 Cal. Rptr. 633, 588 P.2d 773]; People v. Lopez (1977) 71 Cal. App.3d 568, 573 [138 Cal. Rptr. 36].) The trial court's procedure here, we think, sufficiently established that petitioner was competent to waive his rights. The judge examined a psychiatric evaluation, and the record suggests neither mental nor emotional incapacity. (See Teron and Lopez, both supra. ) The judge also acted properly by referring to the disclosure provisions of the agreement and carefully determining that petitioner had read and understood each one. Those provisions explained the basic problem  that counsel's economic motivations might run counter to petitioner's trial concerns. They warned that counsel might be tempted in specified ways to sabotage petitioner's defense. They also cautioned that not all problems could be foreseen. Waiver of the consequences of potential conflict was not inadequate simply because neither the court nor the agreement undertook the impossible burden of explaining separately every conceivable ramification. We therefore conclude that the trial court's order recusing the chosen counsel must be overturned.