Opinion ID: 160217
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Related Claims

Text: A. Motion to Withdraw 16 Hale first argues that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because of a conflict of interest. Hale contends that his trial counsel suffered under a conflict of interest based on trial counsel's assertions to the court in a motion to withdraw. Hale's trial counsel, Mr. Van Wagner, was appointed by the trial court to represent Hale on November 30, 1983. Van Wagner testified at the post-conviction hearing that the first thing he did after being appointed was to file an Application to Withdraw with the trial judge. The written application stated in pertinent part: 17 He [Van Wagner] knows said Defendant whose office was across the hall from this applicant's law office in 1982 and portions of 1983, and this applicant believes that the Defendant attempted to burglarize his law office in early 1983 along with other offices in the building, although there was not sufficient evidence to press charges. Because of this, this applicant has a personal dislike, distrust and animosity toward the Defendant which will prevent the desirable communication and trust that is necessary to an attorney-client relationship. 18 After Van Wagner filed this application he had a meeting with the trial judge. There is no transcript of the meeting between Mr. Van Wagner and the judge; however, following the meeting, the judge denied the application to withdraw and the following court minute was handwritten at the bottom of the application: Above application denied after consideration by the Court. The Court is of the opinion that the attorney will not permit personalities to effect [sic] his relationship or representation of defendant. Hale argues on appeal that the asserted animosity of Van Wagner towards Hale was a conflict of interest which the judge failed to inquire into adequately and resolve properly. In addition, Hale argues that his due process rights were violated because he was not present while his attorney discussed the application to withdraw with the trial judge. 19 In Hale's state direct appeal, he raised only the conflict of interest issue, and he failed to raise the procedural due process claim. With regard to the conflict of interest claim, the OCCA stated: 20 Trial counsel asked to withdraw from representing Hale because he suspected appellant of attempting to burglarize his offices and thought that his personal animosity might hinder communications with Hale. The trial court held a hearing out of Hale's presence and declined the application. We find no abuse of the court's discretion in requiring counsel to overcome his personal feelings and to represent Hale. There is no constitutional right to an attorney client relationship free of animosity. Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. 1, 103 S. Ct. 1610, 75 L. Ed. 2d 610 (1983). 21 Hale I, 750 P.2d at 135. In his state application for post-conviction relief, Hale, for the first time, raised his procedural due process claim based on his absence from the hearing on the motion to withdraw, in addition to his previously raised conflict of interest claim. The OCCA denied consideration of the issue, stating that the conflict of interest claim had been addressed on direct appeal and was therefore barred from review on post-conviction. Hale II, 807 P.2d at 267. It appears that the procedural due process claim has never been addressed by the OCCA. Because the state does not raise procedural bar on appeal, we will consider the procedural due process claim on the merits. See Hooks v. Ward, 184 F.3d 1206, 1223 (10th Cir. 1999).
22 Hale first argues that his constitutional rights were violated when he was not notified of or permitted to attend the hearing or meeting at which his court-appointed counsel discussed his motion to withdraw with the trial judge. Because the OCCA did not address this claim on the merits, we apply pre-AEDPA standards to this portion of Hale's claim. See Hooks, 184 F.3d at 1223. The district court below concluded that Hale's due process rights were not violated by his absence from the hearing on the motion to withdraw because it was not a stage of the proceedings in which his presence was required. The question of whether a defendant has a constitutional right to be present at a particular stage of his trial is a legal question that we review de novo. See United States v. Gomez, 67 F.3d 1515, 1528 (10th Cir. 1995). 23 The Supreme Court has held that a defendant has a due process right to be present in his own person whenever his presence has a relation, reasonably substantial, to the fullness of his opportunity to defend against the charge. Kentucky v. Stincer, 482 U.S. 730, 745, 107 S. Ct. 2658, 96 L. Ed. 2d 631 (1987) (internal quotation marks omitted). When a defendant's presence, however, would be useless or the benefit but a shadow, his presence is not constitutionally required. Id. Due process requires a defendant's presence only whenever a fair and just hearing would be thwarted by his absence. Id. Thus, a defendant is guaranteed the right to be present at any stage of the criminal proceeding that is critical to its outcome if his presence would contribute to the fairness of the procedure. Id. In Stincer, the Supreme Court found no due process violation occurred as a result of the defendant's exclusion from a hearing to determine two young witnesses' competency to testify. In reaching this conclusion, the Court stressed the fact that no substantive testimony that the two girls would give during trial was revealed during the hearing and the defendant did not make a showing that his presence would have ensured a more reliable determination of the competence of the two young witnesses to testify against him. Id. at 745-46. Therefore, the Court concluded that the defendant's absence from the hearing could not have affected his ability to defend himself at trial. 24 This court considered a similar legal issue as the one presented here in United States v. Oles, 994 F.2d 1519 (10th Cir. 1993). In Oles, this court held that the defendant's absence from a preliminary hearing, in which the court determined whether court appointed counsel would withdraw in favor of potential retained counsel, did not violate the defendant's due process rights. Id. at 1525. In reaching this holding, we found that because no substantive matters relating to the charges pending against the defendant were discussed at the hearing and because the defendant did not establish that his presence would have contributed to the fairness of the trial, the defendant's absence did not impinge on [the defendants'] opportunity to defend against [the charges], or affect the fairness of the entire trial. Id. 25 Similarly, in Green v. Johnson, 116 F.3d 1115 (5th Cir. 1997), the Fifth Circuit held that a defendant's due process rights were not violated when the defendant was absent during a meeting between the judge and one of his two attorneys concerning the one attorney's motion to withdraw. Id. at 1124. In the meeting, the attorney argued that her relationship with her co-counsel had deteriorated to the point that they did not communicate about the case directly, and she felt this situation was hindering her ability to represent the defendant. Id. The Fifth Circuit held that the defendant's exclusion from the meeting did not thwart the fairness and just treatment of the issue during the meeting or the fairness of the defendant's overall representation. Id. Moreover, the court found that although the defendant had stated that if he was present he could have provided the court with important information about the conflict, the defendant failed to provide the court with such information or explain how it would have affected the ruling. Id. 26 Like the defendants in Stincer, Oles, and Green, Hale's absence from the conference between the trial judge and his counsel did not affect his ability to defend against the charges he was facing nor did it thwart the fairness of that conference or his overall representation. There is no allegation that the trial judge and counsel, Mr. Van Wagner, discussed the substantive charges against Hale. The conference discussed whether Van Wagner's asserted subjective feelings toward Hale would affect his representation. There is no suggestion that the conference addressed, or attempted to resolve, the truth of the underlying suspicions that gave rise to Van Wagner's ill will nor was there an allegation of a breakdown in communications. As in Green, Hale does not indicate what he could have done had he been present that would have had an effect on the ruling by the trial judge or affected the fairness of his trial or the presentation of his defense. This court finds that Hale's exclusion from the proceeding did not result in an unfair proceeding or trial. Rather, the trial judge, after being presented with Van Wagner's petition, specifically found that trial counsel's relationship and representation of the defendant would not be affected. Similarly, Van Wagner testified at the post-conviction hearing that his vague suspicion that Hale had attempted to burglarize his office did not affect his representation of Hale at all. Hale has presented no evidence to refute the above findings and testimony. We conclude that the meeting on the motion to withdraw did not impinge on Hale's opportunity to defend against the charges against him or affect the fairness of the entire trial; thus we find no constitutional violation.
27 The second part of Hale's claim urges this court to find that an actual conflict of interest existed between Hale and Mr. Van Wagner because Mr. Van Wagner had a vague suspicion that Hale might have burglarized his offices. Because the OCCA addressed this claim on the merits, we review under AEDPA standards. 28 The Sixth Amendment guarantees the effective assistance of counsel to a defendant in a criminal trial. See Selsor v. Kaiser, 81 F.3d 1492, 1496-97 (10th Cir. 1996). The Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel encompasses the correlative right to representation that is free from conflicts of interest. Id. at 1497 (internal quotation marks omitted). This court has explained that the 29 [t]ypical conflict of interest case[] giving rise to [a] claim[] of ineffective assistance of counsel involve[s] multiple representation of co-defendants at a single trial. However, a defendant's right to counsel free from conflicts of interest is not limited to cases involving joint representation of co-defendants but extends to any situation in which a defendant's counsel owes conflicting duties to that defendant and some other third person. 30 United States v. Cook, 45 F.3d 388, 393 (10th Cir. 1995) (internal citations, quotation marks, and alterations omitted). Implicit in the latter category of conflicts noted in Cook is the notion that a conflict may also arise where a lawyer's self-interest is adverse to the interest of his client. See Smith v. Lockhart, 923 F.2d 1314, 1320 (8th Cir. 1991) (In general, a conflict exists when an attorney is placed in a situation conducive to divided loyalties.); see also Beets v. Scott, 65 F.3d 1258 (5th Cir. 1995) (discussing conflict of interest when attorney's self-interest conflicts with duty of loyalty to defendant). Hale argues that this situation exists in his case because his counsel informed the court that he disliked and distrusted Hale because he suspected that Hale may have burglarized his law offices approximately a year earlier. Hale suggests that this animosity demonstrates that his interests and Van Wagner's interests were in conflict. Hale's interpretation of the law is too broad. Under Hale's view, any time that counsel dislikes his or her client, the defendant could claim a conflict of interest. This is not the state of the law. A conflict does not arise any time defendant and his counsel had prior dealings that may have been at odds; rather, the interests of counsel and defendant must be divergent in the current litigation, such that the attorney has an interest in the outcome of the particular case at issue that is adverse to that of the defendant. See United States v. Soto Hernandez, 849 F.2d 1325, 1329 (10th Cir. 1988) (stating that to show conflict of interest, the defendant must demonstrate that counsel actively represented conflicting interests in the pending case); see also Beets, 65 F.3d at 1273 (condemning as a conflict the execution of media and literary rights fee arrangements between the attorney and his client during the pendency of a representation but declining to award habeas relief because of a lack of a showing of prejudice). 4 31 In the present case, there is no evidence that Van Wagner had any interest in the outcome of the current case that would conflict with Hale's interest. The fact that Van Wagner had a suspicion that Hale may have burglarized his office at an earlier time is unrelated to the case for which he was currently representing Hale. Although Van Wagner would have a conflict of interest if he were representing Hale for the robbery of his law office because their interests in that case would be adverse, representation of Hale in a wholly unrelated case does not give rise to a conflict of interest. Cf. Church v. Sullivan, 942 F.2d 1501, 1511 n.8 (10th Cir. 1991) (finding conflict of interest where defense counsel may have to cross-examine a witness who is a former client only when counsel's previous representation of the witness is substantially related to the attorney's later representation of [the current client] (alteration in original omitted)). The fact that Van Wagner did not like Hale or did not trust him does not rise to the level of a conflict of interest. Personality conflicts are not conflicts of interest. Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. 1, 13, 103 S. Ct. 1610, 75 L. Ed. 2d 610 (1983). Thus, we decline to find a conflict of interest in this situation. 32 Although there is no conflict of interest, we have recognized that a complete breakdown in communication between an attorney and client may give rise to a presumption of ineffectiveness. Romero v. Furlong, 215 F.3d 1107, 1111 (10th Cir. 2000) (alterations in original omitted). In this case, however, there is no evidence that there was a breakdown in communication between Van Wagner and Hale. The evidence, instead, supports the conclusion that client and counsel maintained adequate communication. Van Wagner testified at the state post-conviction hearing that he met with Hale many times prior to the trial and discussed the case and the strategy they would follow at trial. In addition, Hale testified at the post-conviction hearing that he did not have any difficulty communicating with Van Wagner. Thus, there is no evidence from which we could presume ineffective assistance based on a total breakdown in communication. 33 There being no conflict of interest and no evidence of a total breakdown in communication, we can vacate Hale's conviction on Sixth Amendment grounds only if he can show ineffective assistance of counsel within the meaning of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984). However, given the concession by Hale's counsel that he carried animosity towards Hale due to his suspicion that Hale might have previously burglarized his law office, we believe it is appropriate to scrutinize counsel's performance with a somewhat more critical eye. 5 We turn, then, to the specific allegations of trial conduct that Hale argues constituted ineffective assistance of counsel.