Opinion ID: 1145118
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Counsel lacked authority to waive defendant's right to a speedy trial under section 1382.

Text: The power of appointed counsel to control judicial strategy and to waive nonfundamental rights despite his client's objection (see Townsend v. Superior Court (1975) 15 Cal.3d 774, 781 [126 Cal. Rptr. 251, 543 P.2d 619] and cases there cited) [6] presumes effective counsel acting for the best interest of the client. As the court pointed out in People v. Corona (1978) 80 Cal. App.3d 684, 720 [145 Cal. Rptr. 894], [e]ffectiveness ... is not a matter of professional competence alone. It also includes the requirement that the services of the attorney be devoted solely to the interest of his client undiminished by conflicting considerations. Thus when the public defender, burdened by the conflicting rights of clients entitled to a speedy trial, seeks to waive one client's right, that conduct cannot be justified on the basis of counsel's right to control judicial proceedings. The public defender's decision under these circumstances is not a matter of defense strategy at all; it is an attempt to resolve a conflict of interest by preferring one client over another. As a matter of principle, such a decision requires the approval of the disfavored client. (Cf. ABA Code of Prof. Responsibility, EC 5-16.) We conclude that the consent of appointed counsel to a postponement of trial beyond the statutory period, if given solely to resolve a calendar conflict and not to promote the best interests of his client, cannot stand unless supported by the express or implied consent of the client himself. [7] The foregoing conclusion, although derived from the ethical principle that an attorney owes an undivided loyalty to the interests of his client, appears to us equally essential to fulfill the objectives of section 1382. That section confers a right upon the defendant, but that right becomes meaningless if counsel can disregard defendant's views and interests and waive the right. Routine waivers to accommodate crowded calendars of defense counsel, moreover, defeat the public interest in speedy criminal trials. The reasoning of Townsend v. Superior Court, supra, 15 Cal.3d 774, imposes no barrier to our conclusion that under the facts of the present case counsel could not waive defendant's statutory right to a speedy trial without defendant's consent. In Townsend, the court found that the consent of counsel alone without that of the client sufficed to satisfy section 1382. (See 15 Cal.3d at p. 780.) Our opinion described the exceptional circumstances under which counsel alone could not waive his client's rights under section 1382: if counsel were ineffective (p. 781), inadequate (p. 784), lazy or indifferent ( ibid. ). The Townsend majority concluded, however, that the case before it did not involve such exceptional circumstances, that defense counsel is pursuing his client's best interests in a competent manner. ( Id. ) [8] Townsend accordingly found counsel's waiver of defendant's rights under section 1382 sufficient to justify the various postponements of the trial. [9] The reasoning of Townsend, applied to the facts of the present case, leads to a result different than that of Townsend. Here counsel thrice sought postponements over the express objection of his client. In contrast to Townsend, he did not seek additional time to prepare the defense or to secure attendance of witnesses. On the record before us, defense counsel entertained no reason to believe delay would benefit defendant; since counsel knew that defendant was incarcerated pending trial, he knew that delay was probably contrary to the best interests of his client. Thus in seeking delay counsel was not pursuing his client's best interests in a competent manner ( Townsend v. Superior Court, supra, 15 Cal.3d 774, 784). Instead, he was deliberately subordinating the statutory right of defendant Johnson to a speedy trial to the rights of other clients. Given his caseload and the conflicting demands upon his time, counsel may have reasonably arranged and ordered the interests of his clients. An attorney, however, owes undivided loyalty to each client (see ABA Code of Prof. Responsibility, EC 5-1); he does not enjoy the prerogative of weighing the rights of one client against those of another. [10] Under the circumstances of the present case we conclude that counsel, in view of his client's express objection, may not waive his right to a speedy trial under section 1382. Accordingly, the postponements granted by the trial court in the present case at the instance of the public defender were not granted at the request of the defendant or with his consent within the meaning of section 1382, subdivision 2.