Opinion ID: 889039
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Did the District Court hold an adequate hearing on Crawford's complaints against his first court-appointed counsel?

Text: ¶20 When a criminal defendant has made a pre-trial request for substitute counsel together with allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel, a district court is required to conduct an adequate initial inquiry into the nature of the complaint to determine if it is seemingly substantial. State v. Gallagher, 1998 MT 70, ¶¶ 14-15, 288 Mont. 180, 955 P.2d 1371. An initial inquiry may be adequate when the court considered the defendant's factual complaints together with counsel's specific explanations addressing the complaints. Gallagher, ¶ 15. ¶21 In his ex parte letter to the District Court, Crawford complained that he had met only twice with LaFountain since his appointment, and that he needed a more aggressive attorney. Because of Crawford's complaints, the District Court held a hearing in which it questioned both Crawford and LaFountain. After Crawford agreed that LaFountain could continue with his representation, the District Court decided to take no action on Crawford's complaints. Crawford argues on appeal that the District Court's hearing was inadequate because the court failed to focus on the primary source of his dissatisfactionthe lack of proper investigation into the suppression issues prevalent in his case. However, Crawford did not raise the issue of the UA results to the District Court as a basis of his dissatisfaction with LaFountain either in his ex parte letter to the court or at the hearing on the adequacy of LaFountain's representation. Because the District Court was not required to either anticipate or create Crawford's arguments against LaFountain, it did not err by failing to address this issue. Further, as the State notes, any deficiencies in the court's inquiry were harmless since Crawford ultimately obtained new counsel who negotiated Crawford's plea agreement and questioned Crawford at the change of plea hearing.