Opinion ID: 2005668
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Law Governing Waiver of Conflicts of Interest.

Text: The leading Missouri case addressing conflicts of interest that may arise when an attorney represents both a criminal defendant and a prosecution witness in the same case is Ciarelli v. State, 441 S.W.2d 695 (Mo.1969). Ciarelli was accused of receiving golf equipment stolen from a country club by Victor Osborne and another. While Ciarelli and Osborne were originally represented by different counsel, due to illness Ciarelli's prior attorney withdrew and attorney Robert Harrington represented Ciarelli at trial. Either Harrington or one of his partners also represented Osborne. Osborne gave testimony adverse to Ciarelli as a witness for the state at the trial. Ciarelli was convicted. On appeal, Ciarelli argued that Harrington's representation of both him and a prosecution witness created an actual conflict of interest and that conflict in turn denied him his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. This Court agreed with defendant that: It has been ruled in numerous federal cases that a defendant in a criminal trial is denied his constitutional right to counsel if his attorney represents conflicting interests without his knowledge and assent. Id., 441 S.W.2d at 697. This Court then held that, given this Sixth Amendment right to counsel, An attorney who represents both the defendant and a prosecution witness in the case against the defendant is representing conflicting interests. Id. As this Court noted, recognition that a conflict of interest exists does not end the inquiry, for a conflict of interest may in many circumstances be waived. The waiver must be knowing, of course, for, [t]here can be no doubt that, insofar as this problem [of a conflict of interest] is concerned, the fact that an attorney is of the defendant's own choosing is of no significance, absent knowledgeable consent of the accused. Id. at 697. But, Ciarelli found that defendant had gone to trial aware of the conflict and had knowingly waived it. It also found that Ciarelli's counsel in fact did effectively represent him, conducting a vigorous defense and attempting to impeach Osborne. It therefore rejected the after-the-fact attempt to void the guilty verdict based on the conflict of interest. Nineteen years later, the United States Supreme Court elucidated the basis on which a waiver of an actual or potential conflict of interest should be accepted or rejected in Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988), still the leading United States Supreme Court case on the issue of an attorney's conflict of interest in the case of dual representation. Wheat was charged in a complex federal drug case. A co-defendant represented by attorney Eugene Iredale was acquitted on one charge and obtained a favorable plea arrangement on another, although that agreement was not yet final. Apparently impressed, defendant Wheat moved to be allowed to dismiss his counsel and retain Iredale. The prosecutor noted that the co-defendant who had pleaded guilty was likely to be a prosecution witness in Wheat's trial, and that if this occurred, or if the co-defendant withdrew his plea and himself went to trial, attorney Iredale's joint representation of them would create a conflict of interest. The trial judge denied the motion, noting that it was made very shortly before trial was to begin. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari to address when a district court may override a defendant's waiver of his attorney's conflict of interest. Wheat, 486 U.S. at 158, 108 S.Ct. 1692. The Supreme Court began by explaining that the Sixth Amendment secures the right to effective assistance of counsel in order to ensure that criminal defendants receive a fair trial, and that for this reason: [W]hile the right to select and be represented by one's preferred attorney is comprehended by the Sixth Amendment, the essential aim of the Amendment is to guarantee an effective advocate for each criminal defendant rather than to ensure that a defendant will inexorably be represented by the lawyer whom he prefers. Wheat, 486 U.S. at 159, 108 S.Ct. 1692. From this it determined that: While `permitting a single attorney to represent codefendants ... is not per se violative of constitutional guarantees of effective assistance of counsel,' Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 482, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426, ... (1978), a court confronted with and alerted to possible conflicts of interest must take adequate steps to ascertain whether the conflicts warrant separate counsel.... As we said in Holloway : Joint representation of conflicting interests is suspect because of what it tends to prevent the attorney from doing.... [A] conflict may ... prevent an attorney from challenging the admission of evidence prejudicial to one client but perhaps favorable to another, or from arguing at the sentencing hearing the relative involvement and culpability of his clients in order to minimize the culpability of one by emphasizing that of another. 435 U.S. at 489-490, 98 S.Ct. 1173. Wheat, 486 U.S. at 159-60, 108 S.Ct. 1692 (quoting Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 489-90, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978)). The Court noted that Fed. R.Civ.P. 44(c) reflects these constitutional principles, [1] but also stated that, Federal courts have an independent interest in ensuring that criminal trials are conducted within the ethical standards of the profession and that legal proceedings appear fair to all who observe them.... Not only the interest of a criminal defendant but the institutional interest in the rendition of just verdicts in criminal cases may be jeopardized by unregulated multiple representation. Wheat, 486 U.S. at 160, 108 S.Ct. 1692. Applying these principles, Wheat stated that a court may reject a waiver in the face of an actual conflict of interest. Because it is often difficult to predict prior to trial whether an actual conflict will arise, however, the Court also stated that: The district court must be allowed substantial latitude in refusing waivers of conflicts of interest not only in those rare cases where an actual conflict may be demonstrated before trial, but in the more common cases where a potential for conflict exists which may or may not burgeon into an actual conflict as the trial progresses. Wheat, 486 U.S. at 163, 108 S.Ct. 1692. Wheat found that the trial court had not exceeded the latitude allowed it in refusing to accept the waiver in that case.