Opinion ID: 1188672
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: separation from legal counsel

Text: Petitioner next contends that the security order provision concerning separation of defendants from counsel and limitation of consultation during the trial deprives inmate defendants of effective assistance of counsel. [8] The security order required that (1) defendants not sit at counsel table; (2) confidential matters be discussed only in the courthouse hallway or in the county jail, depending on the duration of the conference; (3) security officers be positioned sufficiently close to defendants as to control their actions; and (4) the witness stand be moved to 20 feet from the jury instead of 4 1/2 feet. Report of Proceedings, at 52-53; see Appendix. [6] The constitutional right to have the assistance of counsel, Const. art. 1, § 22 (amendment 10), carries with it a reasonable time for consultation and preparation. Consultation includes not only assistance in trial preparation, but opportunity for private and continual discussions between defendant and his attorney during the trial. See State v. Hartwig, 36 Wn.2d 598, 601, 219 P.2d 564 (1950); State v. Cory, 62 Wn.2d 371, 376, 382 P.2d 1019, 5 A.L.R.3d 1352 (1963). Where the court has reason to believe that courtroom security will be impaired if it permits the defendant to have the customary access to counsel, it should explore alternatives which impinge as minimally as possible on this important right. Geders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80, 89-90, 47 L.Ed.2d 592, 96 S.Ct. 1330 (1976). In every criminal trial the accused has a common law right to counsel, and this right may not be abridged by any rule or regulation which would operate to hinder and obstruct free consultation between the accused and his appointed counsel ... [T]he accused has a right to sit with his counsel where he can have equal opportunity to hear the testimony of the witnesses, and absolute freedom to assist by suggestion and information in his own defense.... It was defendant's right to sit with his counsel if he desired, and the trial judge should have recognized his right so to do. If there were considerations peculiar to the defendant sufficient to move the court to deny him the privilege, these should have been stated and put upon the record so that their reasonableness might be judged; (Italics ours.) Commonwealth v. Boyd, 246 Pa. 529, 533-34, 92 A. 705 (1914). Applying these principles to the present case, it seems clear that the counsel table and consultation restrictions, had they been imposed, would have reduced Hartzog's ability to confer with counsel, impinging on his rights under U.S. Const. amend. 6 and Const. art. 1, § 22 (amendment 10). As in the case of shackles, we think the trial court must show (1) that there are compelling reasons why these rights must be curtailed and (2) that no less stringent measures can accomplish the same goals. Cf. Geders v. United States, supra . The fact that penitentiary inmates in a previous trial had engaged in admittedly serious misconduct is not a consideration sufficiently peculiar to the defendant in the present case to justify blanket application of this portion of the security order. The placement of the witness stand a further distance from the jury does not directly present an effective assistance of counsel issue, although it may affect the presumption of innocence. The jury may draw prejudicial conclusions from the fact that a particular defendant or witness is kept at a greater distance than most other witnesses. See generally Kennedy v. Cardwell, 487 F.2d 101 (6th Cir.1973). Moreover, an instruction to disregard the placement of the witness stand could draw more attention to its unusual location. While the parties have cited no cases involving a similar security precaution, we think it a practical solution that, at the time the trial court undertakes an individualized consideration of the necessity for physical restraints and limitation of consultation with legal counsel, it could at the same hearing decide whether the witness stand should be relocated.