Court Opinion

ID: 9466571
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:19:59.375001+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:48.701406
License: Public Domain

SLOVITER, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree that our prior decisions do not preclude us from consideration of the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal when the issue has been raised in the trial court. However, I believe we should take cognizance of that issue only when it is clear that defendant’s claim was accorded full and fair consideration by the trial court. There should be an equivalence between, on one hand, the level of consideration accorded the claim in the trial court which we deem sufficient to take cognizance of the issue on direct appeal and, on the other hand, the level of consideration which will preclude relitigation of that issue in a section 2255 proceeding. U. S. v. Pa-lumbo, 608 F.2d 529, 532-33 (3d Cir. 1979) (per curiam). This will assure that defendant has been fairly treated, and will avoid unnecessary and undesirable duplication of effort in this court.
The record in this case furnishes no basis for a conclusion that appellant has had a full and fair consideration of his claim that his trial counsel used drugs and alcohol in the course of his trial preparation and defense. As noted in the majority opinion (note 26), there is no transcript of the hearing. Indeed the opinion itself raises the possibility that relitigation of this question may not be precluded in a section 2255 hearing. As long as that remains a possibility, we should not bifurcate our consideration of the claim. Our reluctance to consider on direct appeal claims which do not have a fully developed record stems not from an abdication of our duty but from our recognition of the stage at which we can best fulfill that duty. United States v. Rad-O-Lite of Philadelphia, Inc., 612 F.2d 740, at 743-744 (3d Cir. 1979); United States v. Rodriguez, 582 F.2d 1015 (5th Cir. 1978) (per curiam); United States v. Kazni, 576 F.2d 238, 242 (5th Cir. 1978).
I think the appropriate disposition of this case would be to decline to consider the ineffective assistance of counsel issue insofar as it relates to the claim that trial counsel used drugs and alcohol, so that there will be no question that Swinehart would be free to raise the issue in a section 2255 proceeding if he deemed it appropriate.1 In all other respects, I agree with the decision.

. Our consideration of this claim may foreclose Swinehart from a section 2255 hearing, since he may not be able to meet the criteria established by this court which preclude relitigation of a claim considered at the original trial and direct appeal unless there has been “newly discovered evidence that could not reasonably have been presented at the original trial, a *344change in applicable law, incompetent prior representation by counsel, or other circumstances indicating that an accused did not receive full and fair consideration of his federal constitutional and statutory claims . United States v. Palumbo, 608 F.2d at 533 (footnotes omitted).