Opinion ID: 546337
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Disqualification of Trial Counsel

Text: 27 On the government's motion the trial court disqualified the appellant's trial counsel after finding a substantial potential for conflict in the fact that appellant's retained counsel was simultaneously representing the appellant and Russell Lindsay, a business associate of the appellant and the subject of another grand jury investigation. Both the appellant and Lindsay objected to the disqualification and filed affidavits attempting to waive any conflict of interest. The trial court found the waivers to be inadequate and refused to allow joint representation, and the appellant now claims that this was an error that requires reversal. 28 We review a trial court's pretrial disqualification of counsel for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Wheat, 813 F.2d 1399, 1401 (9th Cir.1987) (denial of substitution request), aff'd, 486 U.S. 153, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988). The trial court must be given substantial latitude in refusing waivers of potential conflicts of interest. Wheat, 108 S.Ct. at 1699. 29 The record indicates that the government filed a sealed affidavit that gave the factual basis underlying its belief that the appellant possessed information relevant to an investigation of Lindsay. Even though attempts at plea bargaining had failed, the trial court found a substantial potential for a conflict of interest in that the appellant or Lindsay might change their minds or further developments would cause appellant to reconsider and plead guilty. On this basis the trial court denied the multiple representation during an open hearing. 30 United States v. Thompson, 827 F.2d 1254, 1257 (9th Cir.1987), recognizes that in our system, adversary procedures are the general rule and ex parte examinations are disfavored. Adversary proceedings protect the defendant's due process rights by providing the defendant a chance to explain or rebut the prosecution's arguments. Id. at 1260-61. Thompson was denied this right because the district judge conducted an entirely in camera, ex parte proceeding to determine a prosecutor's motive in excluding minorities from a criminal jury. However, Kenney's due process rights were not similarly violated by the judge's in camera inspection of the prosecution's sealed affidavit because, before disqualifying Kenney's counsel, the trial judge held a hearing that was open to Kenney. We have reviewed the sealed affidavit and have concluded that it did not add substantially to what was said at the hearing. It merely provided a more detailed account of the government's position; Kenney's lack of access to it did not deny him the ability to dispute the government's position. This satisfied the adversarial process because it allowed Kenney to dispute the prosecutor's allegations. 31 The government spelled out that its reason for seeking disqualification was that there was reason to believe that at some point either Kenney or Russell Lindsay, both of whom were represented by Schwartz, would want to cooperate with the government. Schwartz had represented Lindsay for 14 months, Kenney for two. He had arranged for both Lindsay and Kenney to execute waivers of the potential conflict. After argument and explicitly relying on what she had heard, Judge Rothstein ruled that the potential for conflict was great and that the waivers were unsatisfactory. There is no indication that Judge Rothstein relied on information not available to Kenney. 32 The appellant argues that the trial court erred in disqualifying counsel because there was no showing that an actual conflict of interest existed. This assertion misapprehends the appropriate test in this situation. An actual conflict must be shown only when the appellant is attacking a conviction on appeal or in habeas proceedings on the basis of an alleged conflict of interest. See Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 346-47, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1717, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980). Here the potential for a conflict of interest was sufficient. Were it otherwise trial courts confronted with multiple representations [would] face the prospect of being 'whip-sawed' by assertions of error no matter which way they rule. Wheat, 108 S.Ct. at 1698. 33 The appellant has not disputed that the potential for a conflict of interest was present. Defense counsel offered to gladly step aside if the government would drop the felony charges against the appellant and let him plead to a misdemeanor. Defense counsel knew that Lindsay was the subject of an investigation, he knew that the appellant was a business associate of Lindsay, and he knew that the government was seeking information from both Lindsay and Kenney about the other. A conflict, or at least the potential for a conflict, arose when defense counsel rebuffed the government's attempt to approach the appellant regarding information about Lindsay. The same conflict was apparent when defense counsel informed the government that if Lindsay were subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury, he would invoke his fifth amendment right and refuse to testify. 34 The government had approached appellant several times to obtain his cooperation as part of a plea agreement to give testimony against other persons. The possibility for a plea agreement did not appear to be out of the question; in fact the government had already made at least one offer that was not acceptable to the appellant. Had further plea negotiations been undertaken defense counsel would have been unable to represent either client without compromising the interests of the other. Under the circumstances the trial court did not abuse its discretion in disqualifying trial counsel on this basis. See id. at 1699. 35 Although the judge did not set out all the factors she considered in disqualifying counsel, she did state that (1) the relationship between Kenney and Schwartz was not so advanced that forcing Kenney to find new counsel would be damaging to his defense; (2) Lindsay was not at the hearing, making it impossible to look into his waiver and his understanding of it; and (3) even though both clients claimed not to have anything useful to the government, they could not tell what might be useful and counsel could not advise both of them about testifying against the other without a severe conflict of interest. 36 The judge, however, did not explain why she believed Kenney and Lindsay might end up as witnesses against each other. Were we to affirm on the basis of such an incomplete statement, we would be forced to affirm all disqualifications so long as the Government could invent a plausible rationale on appeal. Nonetheless, the district judge's expression of her reasoning, the transcript of the hearing and the sealed affidavit together persuade us that there was reason to suspect a future conflict of interest in this case and to assure us that the judge did not abuse her discretion in disqualifying counsel. A more detailed explanation of the reasoning and the factors taken into account, however, would have been helpful.