Court Opinion

ID: 9543018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:41:20.542449+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:09:31.892857
License: Public Domain

PRENTICE, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the opinion of the majority as to Issue I. Although it does not appear that defense counsel’s prior contact with the case, as a deputy prosecutor, inhibited the defense, it is clear that the defendant was fearful that it would, or might. An essential ingredient in the satisfactory at*1153torney-client relationship is the client’s implicit trust. This is not to say that the court must, in every instance, provide pauper counsel to the complete approval of the indigent. Where, as here, however, a circumstance comes to light which could, in the mind of a reasonable man, cast a shadow upon the integrity of the proceedings, and the defendant is free from fault or laches, the image of integrity should be preserved even at the expense of a wasted trial.
Although we may be confident that counsel performed properly and ably, it is clear from the record that the appellant would not have accepted this attorney in the first instance, nor would the attorney have accepted employment, had they been aware of the attorney’s prior contact with the case. Nor would the trial court, at that stage, have forced the relationship.
We recently imposed public sanctions upon very able and reputable attorneys because of a negligent failure to disclose adequately a conflict of interest, although there was no indication of a mal-intent or of harm to the client. We took that action, with considerable reluctance, because we believed such to be necessary to preserve and advance the image of professional integrity and because the dilemma, although regretable, was, nevertheless, of their making.
Here we have a similar situation but with even greater potential for harm. It was counsel’s failure to recognize his position of apparent conflict at the time of his appointment that created the problem. This error was not chargeable to the appellant, however, who protested the continuance of the relationship at his first opportunity. Although the declaration of a mistrial would have occasioned a judicial waste, it is my opinion that such would have been an evil lesser than the forced continuance of the attorney-client relationship, after the seeds of mistrust had fallen.