Opinion ID: 2492640
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: whether bailey was deprived of his right to a fair trial or, at the very least, denied his right to a fair and impartial judge.

Text: ¶ 58. Bailey asserts that he was denied his right to a fair trial and a fair and impartial judge because the trial court allowed the Hinds County district attorney to recuse himself for an undisclosed conflict of interest involving a potential witness, but refused to grant defense counsel's motion to withdraw for a similar conflict of interest. Additionally, in his brief, Bailey states that the trial judge failed to cure the conflict. On December 1, 2009, defense counsel filed a motion to withdraw because counsel realized they were also representing a potential witness, James Bernard Pickens, who had an open arrest warrant and pending revocation proceedings. The following day, the trial judge conducted a hearing and made a lengthy inquiry into the alleged conflict of interest and possible remedies. ¶ 59. At the pretrial hearing, the defense argued that the conflict of interest was due to the fact that Pickens might be an adverse witness to Bailey, and they could not properly represent Bailey if they were also trying to protect the interests of their other client, Pickens. Further, defense counsel stated that there would be a conflict if Pickens was called as a witness, because they possibly would have to impeach him due to Pickens's felony status and the conflicting statements he had given, essentially claiming that they would have to attack our own client. ¶ 60. The State asserted that it had no plans of calling Pickens as a witness, because Pickens had changed his statement several times. The State agreed that the judge's suggested remedy of appointing a separate attorney for Pickens solved any possible conflict, since Pickens would no longer be defense counsel's client. Also, the State pointed out that the information the defense would use to impeach Pickensan aggravated-assault convictionis public knowledge and not based on special information it received from representing Pickens. Rather than granting the defense counsel's motion to withdraw, the trial court appointed another defense attorney to represent Pickens. ¶ 61. Recently, in Kiker v. State, 55 So.3d 1060 (Miss.2011), this Court reversed and remanded a case because a defense attorney also represented one of the State's witnesses, and the attorneys and trial judge made no effort to cure the conflict. In Kiker, the attorneys and trial judge became aware of the conflict when the witness stated during his testimony that one of the defense attorneys represented him. Id. at 1064. In reversing Kiker's conviction, this Court stated: The trial judge, the defense attorneys, and the prosecutor knew about the conflict, and all of them failed in their respective duties. Id. at 1068. Unlike the attorneys in Kiker, the defense attorneys in today's case moved to withdraw from representation upon realizing that there was a conflict. In response to the defense's motion, the trial court in today's case appointed a new attorney to represent Pickens. ¶ 62. By appointing a new attorney to represent Pickens, the trial judge did not cure any potential conflict of interest; however, based on the record in today's case, no reversible error was committed. Pickens did not testify at Bailey's second trial. The State did not call Pickens as a witness, and there is nothing to indicate that defense counsel failed to call Pickens as a witness due to defense counsel's representation of Pickens in an unrelated criminal case. Even though Pickens had a new attorney, had the State called Pickens as a witness, defense counsel could have been compromised in their ability to fully cross-examine Pickens with information they may have gained in their attorney-client relationship with Pickens. See Miss. Rule Prof. Conduct 1.9(a)(b). But today, Bailey makes no such claim regarding a denial of his constitutional right to effective counsel, but instead claims that he was denied the right to have an impartial judge preside over his trial due to the trial judge's disparate treatment of defense counsel by not allowing them to withdraw as Bailey's counsel, after having earlier permitted the district attorney to withdraw due to vague references of representation of an unnamed client. In considering Bailey's claim, he has failed to overcome the presumption that the trial judge in this case was impartial. In re Blake, 912 So.2d 907, 917 (Miss.2005) (citing McFarland v. State, 707 So.2d 166, 180 (Miss.1997)). ¶ 63. Accordingly, this issue is without merit.