Opinion ID: 2446625
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Present Record Inadequate

Text: In Sahin's case, the reasons for the actions of his defense attorney are unknown. The record does not reflect why Sahin's attorney told the trier of fact that Sahin's rejection of the State's plea offer and decision to have a trial was against the advice of counsel. Nor does the record reflect why Sahin's attorney told the trier of fact that Sahin's request for an interpreter was not credible. In the absence of a satisfactory explanation, these actions appear to fall below an objective standard of reasonable representation under the first part of the Strickland test. If there is no satisfactory explanation for the actions of Sahin's trial attorney, the prejudice issue under the second part of Strickland will be whether the ineffective assistance of counsel deprived Sahin of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. We have no doubt that the trial judge did her best to give Sahin a fair trial. Unfortunately, the trial began with a breach of the attorney/client privilege when the judge was told that Sahin's decision to go to trial was against the advice of counsel. It is equally unfortunate that throughout the trial, every time the issue of an interpreter was raised, Sahin's credibility was undermined by his attorney. The issue of prejudice that those actions caused will not be determined by the subjective good faith efforts of the trial judge to be fair but by whether the actions by Sahin's attorney created an objective stigma surrounding the appearance of an inability to assess credibility fairly. [10] The issue of an objective appearance of prejudice should not be decided by the judge who presided over Sahin's bench trial. Therefore, in the event that Sahin files a Rule 61 motion for post-conviction relief, it should be assigned to another judge. If there is a subsequent proceeding, the judge who presided at Sahin's trial shall not appear or be compelled to appear as a witness. [11]