Opinion ID: 2595083
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Trial Court's Alleged Conflict of Interest

Text: At a pretrial hearing pertaining to a motion by defendant to strike certain prior felony convictions, the trial judge (Charles V. Stone), remarked in passing that he had represented defendant in one of the felonies, which resulted in a guilty plea. Neither party asked Judge Stone to disqualify himself as a result of this disclosure. At trial, the prosecution did not use the prior conviction in which Judge Stone had represented defendant. Defendant asserts that when Judge Stone represented him in the prior felony matter, the judge incurred a duty of loyalty to defendant that remained even after he became a judge. As a result, defendant argues, Judge Stone had a conflict of interest that violated defendant's right to an impartial judge, as guaranteed by the state and federal Constitutions. Defendant's failure to challenge Judge Stone or to seek review of the issue by a timely writ petition bars him from now raising this issue. ( People v. Brown (1993) 6 Cal.4th 322, 335-336, 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 710, 862 P.2d 710; see also People v. Barrera (1999) 70 Cal. App.4th 541, 547-552, 82 Cal.Rptr.2d 755.) Even if defendant had preserved the issue, he would not be entitled to relief. If anything, Judge Stone's duty of loyalty to defendant would have made it difficult for him to be fair to the prosecution, not to defendant. Defendant speculates that Judge Stone may have been prejudiced against him because, while representing him, Stone may have learned prejudicial information about him that was not introduced at trial. The record, however, contains no evidence that Judge Stone knew of any such information. Finally, we reject defendant's contention that his trial attorneys were incompetent for not moving to disqualify Judge Stone based on his prior representation of defendant. Defense counsel may have reasonably concluded that this circumstance would not bias him against defendant and would, if anything, make him a more sympathetic arbiter.