Opinion ID: 1688754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: the lower court erred in overruling appellant's motion to appoint an experienced criminal trial attorney in this matter, therefore, denying the appellant effective assistance of counsel.

Text: Appellant argues that the lower court erred in refusing to appoint experienced trial counsel to represent him in the trial below. At the outset, the trial judge appointed a lawyer in Butler, Alabama, to represent appellant. He graduated from law school in May, 1983. That attorney promptly filed a motion for appointment of co-counsel and another attorney, who had been practicing law for approximately four and one-half (4 1/2) years and who was one of the few attorneys in the area to defend a capital murder case, was appointed. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984), is the guiding star of legal jurisprudence on this question. Cronic was charged with mail fraud in connection with a check kiting scheme. His appointed attorney had a real estate practice with no prior experience in conducting jury trials. The court held that, to prevail on an effectiveness claim, Cronic must point to specific lapses by his trial counsel. The appellant has made no attempt to do so in the case sub judice, obviously because he cannot. In his closing remarks to the parties, the trial judge stated he had never seen anyone do a better job than was done by the attorneys representing the appellant. Counsel is presumed to be competent. If counsel is reasonably effective in the defense of an accused, he meets constitutional standards, irrespective of the client's evaluation of his performance. An indigent criminal defendant is not entitled to expert counsel, or to counsel of his own choosing, but only to reasonably effective assistance of counsel. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. 1, 103 S.Ct. 1610, 75 L.Ed.2d 610 (1983).