Opinion ID: 1517574
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Monroe-Farrell Claim

Text: Appellant also contends that the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by failing to conduct an inquiry into the pretrial preparation of Mr. O'Bryant when appellant expressed concern that his attorney did not have enough time to prepare. When a defendant makes a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel pretrial, the trial court must conduct an inquiry sufficient to assess the counsel's preparedness and determine whether the defendant's claim has merit. See McFadden v. United States, 614 A.2d 11, 15 (D.C. 1992). A failure to do so will result in reversal, see id. at 17-18, or remand for an inquiry into the trial counsel's pretrial preparedness (a Monroe-Farrell hearing). See Bass v. United States, 580 A.2d 669, 671 (D.C.1990). In this case, appellant told Judge Moultrie during the suppression hearing that he did not believe the trial would be fair because his attorney had not had enough time to prepare. Judge Moultrie, apparently taking this as additional argument in support of a longer continuance, resumed the hearing without inquiring further into appellant's claims. We need not reach the issue of whether appellant's brief statement to the court was sufficient to require an inquiry into his concerns, see Monroe v. United States, 389 A.2d 811, 819-20 (D.C.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1006, 99 S.Ct. 621, 58 L.Ed.2d 683 (1978), Farrell v. United States, 391 A.2d 755 (D.C. 1978), as Judge Long made findings on the record relating to Mr. O'Bryant's pretrial preparation; these findings are similar to those that would be made by a trial court on remand for a Monroe-Farrell hearing. Based on the evidence presented at appellant's § 23-110 hearing, Judge Long found that Mr. O'Bryant's pretrial investigation was extensive despite the time constraints. After the hearing in which he was granted the short continuance, Mr. O'Bryant met with Mr. Thompson to retrieve appellant's file and discuss the case. He reviewed the notes of the private investigator who had been hired by Mr. Thompson and met with the trial prosecutor to begin the discovery conference, where he reviewed government evidence. Mr. O'Bryant also met with appellant on several occasions to discuss appellant's version of the events of the day of the murder and how they related to the government's evidence. He personally interviewed several witnesses, including those who appellant claimed provided him with an alibi. He also retraced the route appellant claimed to have taken on the day of the murder in an attempt to reconstruct the events of that day. In addition, he reviewed the physical evidence with the assistance of experts. After reviewing Mr. O'Bryant's pretrial preparation, Judge Long concluded that Mr. O'Bryant, despite the time constraints imposed on him, conducted a sufficient, reasonable, and competent pre-trial investigation. Judge Long noted that those aspects of Mr. O'Bryant's pretrial preparation about which appellant complained, including his failure to locate two witnesses, the fact that he did not take photos or make diagrams of the crime scene, and the fact that he did not hire an investigator, had no detrimental effect on appellant's case, as the witnesses could not exonerate appellant or account for his whereabouts at the time of the crime. Based on Judge Long's findings, which were amply supported by the record, we conclude that appellant's trial counsel was constitutionally prepared for trial. Therefore, even if the trial court did err in refusing to conduct a further inquiry into appellant's concerns, there is no need to remand the case for a Monroe-Farrell hearing in view of the trial court's in-depth inquiry and determination that trial counsel was prepared constitutionally. See Wingate v. United States, 669 A.2d 1275, 1279 (D.C.1995) (If the judge in a § 23-110 motion hearing determine[s] that trial counsel was in fact constitutionally prepared, the Monroe-Farrell issue ... effectively disappear[s] from the case, even if the inquiry actually made [was] insufficient.) (citing Matthews v. United States, 459 A.2d 1063, 1066 (D.C.1983)).