Court Opinion

ID: 9474835
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:10:21.537428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:22.157386
License: Public Domain

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur fully in Parts I, II, III, and IVA of the majority opinion. I find the analysis persuasively and eloquently articulated. However, because I conclude that the applicable Supreme Court cases require further district court proceedings with respect to the alleged ineffectiveness of counsel, I must respectfully dissent from the result in Part IVB.
As discussed in Part III of the majority opinion, Andrews has a valid Speedy Trial Act claim which he could have preserved only by going to trial or by entering a conditional guilty plea under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2). Nonetheless, his attorney advised Andrews to enter an unconditional plea. See rec., suppl. vol. I, at 20 (transcript of guilty plea proceedings). Andrews’ need to attempt to negotiate a conditional plea or to go to trial was clearly at odds with his attorney’s apparent desire to bring the case to a rapid resolution in order to avoid interfering with his plans to leave the practice of law and return to graduate school. Contrary to the majority, I believe that this potential conflict may well undermine “counsel’s ability to perform in a loyal, zealous and unfettered manner.” Majority Op. at 811.
“Where a constitutional right to counsel exists, [the Supreme Court’s] Sixth Amendment cases hold that there is a correlative right to representation that is free from conflicts of interest.” Wood v. Georgia, 450 U.S. 261, 271, 101 S.Ct. 1097, 1103, 67 L.Ed.2d 220 (1981). “These principles concerning conflicts of interest are not restricted to cases of joint representation of co-defendants at a single trial.” United States v. Winkle, 722 F.2d 605, 610 (10th Cir.1983). The issue is whether the conflict influences basic strategy decisions and prevents the attorney from zealously pursuing his client’s interest single-mindedly. See Wood, 450 U.S. at 271-72, 101 S.Ct. at 1103-04; United States v. Hurt, 543 F.2d 162, 166 (D.C.Cir.1976).
In Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978), co-defendants represented by the same attorney moved the trial court for appointment of separate counsel because the attorney believed he was confronted with the risk of representing conflicting interests. The attorney represented to the court that he would be unable to adequately protect his clients during their joint trial due to a conflict created by divided loyalties and confidential communications. The district court neither appointed separate counsel nor took adequate steps to ascertain whether the risk of conflict was too remote to warrant appointment of separate counsel. The Supreme Court held that the defendants had been denied their right to effective assistance of counsel. In so doing, the Court gave conclusive weight to the representation by counsel to the trial court that an actual conflict existed. Id. 435 U.S. at 485-88, 98 S.Ct. at 1179-81. The Court *816also held that under these circumstances a defendant need not show prejudice because “to assess the impact of a conflict of interests on the attorney’s options, tactics, and decisions in plea negotiations would be virtually impossible.” Id. at 491, 98 S.Ct. at 1182 (emphasis added). The Court concluded that reversal is automatic whenever a trial court improperly requires continued representation over a timely objection that such representation creates a conflict. See id. at 488, 98 S.Ct. at 1180.
In Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 345-50, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1710-19, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980), and Wood v. Georgia, 450 U.S. 261, 101 S.Ct. 1097, the Court further developed the standard to be applied to claims of attorney conflict. Recently, in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), the Court reaffirmed that prejudice is presumed in such cases:
“One type of actual ineffectiveness claim warrants a similar, though more limited, presumption of prejudice. In Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S., at 345-50, 100 S.Ct., at 1710-19, the Court held that prejudice is presumed when counsel is burdened by an actual conflict of interest. In those circumstances, counsel breaches the duty of loyalty, perhaps the most basic of counsel’s duties. Moreover, it is difficult to measure the precise effect on the defense of representation corrupted by conflicting interests. Given the obligation of counsel to avoid conflicts of interest and the ability of trial courts to make early inquiry in certain situations likely to give rise to conflicts, see, e.g., Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 44(c), it is reasonable for the criminal justice system to maintain a fairly rigid rule of presumed prejudice for conflicts of interest. Even so, the rule is not quite the fer se rule of prejudice that exists for the Sixth Amendment claims mentioned above. Prejudice is presumed only if the defendant demonstrates that counsel ‘actively represented conflicting interests’ and ‘that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer’s performance.’ Cuyler v. Sullivan, supra, 446 U.S., at 350, 348, 100 S.Ct., at 1719, 1718 (footnote omitted).”
Id. 104 S.Ct. at 2067.1 See also Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259, 268, 104 S.Ct. 1051, 1056, 79 L.Ed.2d 288 (1984).
Andrews contends that Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426, requires reversal in the present case. However, the Court in Holloway emphasized that the conclusive presumption of a conflict arises upon “formal objections, motions, and defense counsel’s representations” as an officer of the court that an actual conflict is present. Id. 435 U.S. at 485-88 & n. 9, 98 S.Ct. at 1179-81 & n. 9. Although the facts in the instant case strongly suggest the possibility of a conflict, the record on appeal contains no evidence of an unequivocal representation made by counsel to the trial court that an actual conflict prevented him from singlemindedly pursuing Andrews’ best interests.2 Thus this case is more factually akin to Wood v. Georgia, 450 U.S. 261, 101 S.Ct. 1097, than to Holloway. In Wood the trial court was alerted to the possibility of a disqualifying conflict of interest, although the attorney himself had made no representation that a conflict actually existed. The Supreme Court held that the possibility of a conflict was sufficiently apparent “to impose upon the court a duty to inquire further.” Id. at 272, 101 S.Ct. at 1104. To address the trial court’s failure in this regard, the Court vacated the judgment and *817remanded the case for a hearing on the existence of a conflict with instructions to invalidate the proceedings if an actual conflict were ascertained. See id. at 273-74, 101 S.Ct. at 1104-05.
I believe that the Wood procedure is appropriate in the present case. Accordingly, I would vacate the judgment and remand the case to the trial court for a hearing to determine whether the conflict suggested by this record actually existed. See Winkle, 722 F.2d at 612. If the court determined that Andrews’ guilty plea was invalid because of ineffective assistance of counsel, then the guilty plea would not waive Andrews’ valid Speedy Trial Act claim. In that event the court would be required to dismiss all charges against Andrews pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3162(a)(2).
Accordingly, I dissent.

. In Hill v. Lockhart, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 366, 88 L.Ed.2d 203 (1985), the Supreme Court recently applied to guilty plea proceedings the standard governing ineffective assistance of counsel claims set out in Strickland v. Washington.

. As noted in the majority opinion, the only facts in the record regarding the personal conflict are those recited by the trial judge in his order denying Lee’s motion to withdraw, which facts the judge obtained from his law clerk after the latter’s telephone conversation with Lee. The record therefore does not contain the formal representations of defense counsel found in Holloway.