Court Opinion

ID: 9482425
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:49:53.48913+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:59.030811
License: Public Domain

FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:
Petitioner Perry Bellamy appeals from a decision and order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Reena Raggi, J., denying his application for a writ of habeas corpus and granting judgment to respondent William Cogdell, Warden of the Brooklyn House of Detention. In his application for the writ, Bellamy claimed ineffective assistance of trial counsel and denial of due process. To this he added a claim that he was denied a full and fair opportunity to litigate his attorney’s competence in his state-court hearing. We hold that on the unusual facts before us and under our precedents, this is one of those rare instances where denial of effective counsel must be presumed as a matter of law, without any showing of prejudice. Therefore, we reverse the denial of the writ of habeas corpus and remand with instructions.
Background
In January 1987, Perry Bellamy went on trial in New York Supreme Court, Queens County, for the murder of New York State Parole Officer Brian Rooney. One year earlier, Mr. Bellamy’s mother had retained Sidney J. Guran to defend her son. At that time, Guran had been retired for over a year and, as later became evident, was ill.
As the trial date approached, Guran’s health declined. In September 1986, his doctor, Richard P. Cohen, M.D., undertook an extensive evaluation of a neurological problem from which Guran was suffering, a condition known as polyneuropathy and “characterized by peripheral motor weakness, unsteadiness on his feet and, at times, an inability to concentrate.” In an apparently unrelated development, on October 20, 1986, the chief counsel to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department (the Committee) filed charges of professional misconduct involving conversion of funds against Gu-ran. Less than a month later, the Committee received a letter from Guran’s attorney, Richard L. Baltimore, stating that Guran “is not mentally capable of preparing for the hearing” on the charges and requesting an adjournment of the hearing on that basis. Baltimore added that in his telephone conversations with Guran, he perceived “a certain amount of disorientation.”
Enclosed with Baltimore’s letter was a letter from Dr. Cohen, Guran’s physician, dated October 29, 1986, indicating that evaluation and treatment of Guran’s current medical problem would take “at least three to six months” and that “Mr. Guran will be effectively incapacitated during that *628time.” Based on these statements in support of Guran’s request for an adjournment, on November 21,1986 the Committee petitioned the Appellate Division, First Department, for Guran’s indefinite suspension, and simultaneously moved for an order “suspending respondent [Guran] from the practice of law, effective immediately _” (emphasis added). The return date of the motion was December 23, 1986.
Guran answered this motion in an affidavit sworn to on December 12, 1986, in which he admitted that the factual allegations of the petition “are not in dispute.” These included allegations of physical and mental incapacity. The affidavit stated that he had “not taken any new work” since his 70th birthday in 1984 other than Bellamy’s case, which was set for trial early in the following month. He pointed out that the trial could not be delayed, that he was familiar with the case, that Bellamy’s mother had already paid him and that Bellamy “strictly trusts only me.” For these reasons, Guran requested that he not be suspended and stated that “I, of course, will not attempt to try this case by myself. I will have a competent attorney, but I must be present to assist him.” He also indicated that he would not take any other cases.
Guran subsequently wrote to the trial judge, John T. Gallagher, J., advising him generally of the disciplinary charges against Guran, his explanation of his actions in the matters charged, his request for an adjournment of the hearing on those charges, the Committee’s motion to suspend him immediately and his intentions to enlist the help of another attorney at Bellamy’s trial.
It is undisputed that at the time of trial, Bellamy knew nothing about the charges against his attorney, his attorney’s admission of incapacity or his attorney’s representation that he would not attempt to try the case alone. Bellamy has sworn in an affidavit that he would not have allowed Guran to represent him at trial had he known of the facts stated above, and that contention is not disputed. Also undisputed is the fact that Guran, alone, represented Bellamy during the trial after making unsuccessful attempts to have another attorney assist him. The trial commenced with jury selection on January 6, 1987 and ended with a jury verdict of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon on January 24, 1987.
Approximately two months after the jury verdict, on March 26, 1987, the Appellate Division, First Department, issued a unanimous order “to protect the public,” suspending Guran indefinitely as an attorney on the ground that, as Guran himself had implicitly conceded, “he is, at this time, incapable of practicing law.” At a sentencing proceeding in April 1987, after Bellamy had learned of Guran’s suspension, Bellamy protested that his rights were “being violated _ Mr. Guran was not a fit lawyer to handle and represent me properly because of his medical health and other reasons.” Bellamy added “[ujnder the Fourteenth Amendment, I have a right to counsel and I have a right to a fair trial _ [b]ut I did not have that.” He was subsequently sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the murder conviction and five to 15 years in prison for the criminal weapon possession conviction.
Represented by pro bono counsel, Bellamy moved in June 1987, pursuant to CPL § 440, for an order setting aside his conviction on the grounds that he was not afforded effective assistance of counsel and was denied due process of law. On July 30, 1987, Justice Gallagher denied the motion summarily after oral argument. However, after Bellamy’s request for reconsideration, the judge vacated his denial and set the matter down for a hearing. Before the hearing was held, Justice Gallagher denied Bellamy’s motion to compel Guran’s testimony at the hearing.
The hearing took place on three separate days in 1988; several witnesses testified, including Guran’s doctor. Thereafter, in a memorandum decision dated January 31, 1989, Justice Gallagher denied Bellamy’s motion to vacate his conviction. Justice Gallagher concluded that Guran was “mentally and physically capable to try the defendant’s case and did so in a competent *629manner.” The judge also held that it had not been necessary at trial either to inquire as to whether Bellamy “was aware his attorney was facing suspension on grounds of incapacity” or to require Guran to obtain assistance in trying the case. Justice Gallagher finally concluded that Bellamy was not denied effective representation during the suppression hearing.
Bellamy duly sought permission to appeal the denial of his CPL § 440 motion; in May 1989, the Appellate Division denied leave to appeal.
In December 1990, Bellamy filed his petition in the Eastern District for a writ of habeas corpus. He raised in the district court the same issues presented earlier in state court in the CPL § 440 motion, and added that he had not had a full and fair opportunity to develop his claims because Justice Gallagher had denied his motion to compel Guran’s testimony at the earlier hearing.
After submission of legal memoranda, the district court denied the petition on the merits in June 1991 without an evidentiary hearing. In a reasoned and thorough opinion, Judge Raggi ruled that Bellamy had exhausted his state court remedies, that Bellamy had not been denied effective assistance of counsel, under a per se rule or under the standard set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and that the state trial judge’s failure to take action or make inquiry after learning of the pending motion to suspend Guran did not deprive Bellamy of due process. This appeal followed.

Discussion

We turn directly to consideration of the merits, since the district court was justified in holding that state remedies have been exhausted, and appellee Warden makes no claim to the contrary.
Under most circumstances, when a criminal defendant raises a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the defendant must demonstrate both unreasonable representation by the attorney and sufficient prejudice to render the result of the trial unreliable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. In a small class of cases, however, we do not apply Strickland’s two-pronged test of ineffective assistance but instead presume that there has been prejudice. The Supreme Court in Strickland spoke of such cases when it asserted that “[i]n certain Sixth Amendment contexts, prejudice is presumed. Actual or constructive denial of the assistance of counsel altogether is legally presumed to result in prejudice.” 466 U.S. at 692, 104 S.Ct. at 2067.
Both before and since Strickland, we have held that where a defendant was represented by an attorney who, unbeknown to the defendant, was not licensed to practice law, that defendant has been denied the constitutional right to counsel. In Salina v. United States, 709 F.2d 160 (2d Cir.1983), in a typically thorough opinion by Judge Friendly, we so held even where the representative was trained in law, where the representative apparently furnished reasonably competent representation and where the evidence against the defendant was so overwhelming that he would almost certainly have been convicted regardless of who had represented him. We held that a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel is violated where, without the defendant’s knowledge, “his representative was not authorized to practice lav/ in any state, and the lack of such authorization stemmed from failure to seek it or from its denial for a reason going to legal ability, such as failure to pass a bar examination, or want of moral character_” 709 F.2d at 167. We there concluded that “[ajpplication of a per se rule appears to us to be required in a case like this by the teachings of the Supreme Court _” 709 F.2d at 168. We were careful to point out, however, that we did not intimate that simply any technical defect in the licensed status of a defendant’s representative would amount to a violation of the Sixth Amendment, 709 F.2d at 167, and we gave several examples.
Seven years later, in United States v. Novak, 903 F.2d 883 (2d Cir.1990), we again thoroughly canvassed the subject. The attorney in that case (Joel B. Stein-*630berg), although licensed to practice law during the defendant’s trial, had fraudulently obtained his license. In an opinion by Judge Kearse, we reaffirmed the holding in Solina and held that the representation at trial constituted per se ineffective assistance of counsel, lack of prejudice notwithstanding. Our reasoning again was that “mere technical defects need not result in 'per se Sixth Amendment violations” but that “serious substantive defects” do. 903 F.2d at 888. We pointed out that in Solina there had been “a demonstrated inability to meet the threshold criteria of competence in the law (as in Solina’s counsel’s failure of the bar examination) .... ” Id. Similarly, in Novak, “[t]he defect in Steinberg’s licensure was not simply technical but was instead serious and substantive. At the time of his admission to the bar, Steinberg had not met the State’s normal substantive requirements for admission to the New York State Bar. His competence to practice law had never been tested, and he was not entitled to bypass such testing.” 903 F.2d at 890.
In the case before us, the attorney whose assistance is at issue, Mr. Guran, has been suspended indefinitely from the practice of law. Disciplinary proceedings started in October 1986, and a hearing on those charges was noticed for December 11, 1986. In November, Guran’s attorney sent a letter to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee, stating that Guran was “not mentally capable of preparing for the hearing” and requesting an adjournment on that basis. The Committee quickly moved for an order immediately suspending Gu-ran from practicing law and noticed a return date prior to the date when Bellamy’s trial would begin. In response to that motion, in an affidavit sworn to only about three weeks before the scheduled commencement of the trial, Guran admitted that the factual allegations of incapacity were not in dispute and swore to the Appellate Division that he would “of course” not try Bellamy’s case alone. Guran substantially repeated this promise to Justice Gallagher in a letter. When Guran was finally suspended after the trial, the ground for suspension was that by his own implicit concession, “he is, at this time, incapable of practicing law.” We think it is clear that but for the promise to the Appellate Division to secure the help of a competent attorney — a promise that Guran did not or could not keep and that he did not convey to the trial judge — Guran’s suspension would almost certainly have taken place prior to Bellamy’s trial. It was only by a representation that was not fulfilled that the attorney in this case remained licensed for the duration of the trial.
We have also applied a per se rule in United States v. Cancilla, 725 F.2d 867 (2d Cir.1984). In that case, the attorney at issue had, unknown to the defendant, participated in criminal conduct related to the conduct for which defendant was convicted. Despite the lack of proof of prejudice to the defendant, we held there that such participation created a conflict of interest that denied defendant his right to counsel at trial. We agree with respondent Warden that the present ease does not raise a similar conflict of interest problem. However, a per se denial of effective assistance does not arise only where there is a conflict of interest between an attorney and client. On the contrary, the reason we presume prejudice in such instances is that the conflict may prevent the attorney from vigorously representing the client, for fear of being discovered. Cancilla, 725 F.2d at 870. We have no less — and perhaps more — reason to fear inadequate representation where the attorney is, as Guran has conceded himself to be, mentally incapable of preparing for a simple disciplinary hearing than we would be if there were a conflict of interest.
The Warden claims that this case resembles Waterhouse v. Rodriguez, 848 F.2d 375 (2d Cir.1988), in which a criminal defense attorney was undergoing disciplinary proceedings while representing his client at a hearing to determine whether his client’s confession was voluntary. We held that the pendency of the disciplinary proceedings, even though they ended in disbarment, did not alone trigger the presumption of prejudice. The analogy between Waterhouse and the present case is flawed. *631In Waterhouse, the attorney was disbarred for misappropriating client funds and for failing to represent clients after accepting fees. 848 F.2d at 378. Neither of these bases of disbarment called into question the attorney’s competence to practice law at the time he was representing Water-house. They were solely reflections of his honesty and his ethical entitlement to remain a member of the bar. As we stated there, “the charges underlying his disbarment were unrelated to his representation of Waterhouse ....” 848 F.2d at 383. It was therefore not considered pertinent to the defendant’s representation at the confession hearing that his attorney was disbarred.
The Warden also relies on United States v. Aiello, 900 F.2d 528 (2d Cir.1990). In that case, the attorney representing the criminal defendant was under investigation by the Organized Crime Strike Force for the Eastern District of New York before and during the proceedings against the defendant. But as in Waterhouse, “[the attorney’s] purported crimes were totally unrelated to the ... crimes for which [the defendant] was being tried.” 900 F.2d at 531. There was similarly no evidence that the attorney was incompetent to practice law.
In our case, in contrast to both Water-house and Aiello, the defect which led to Guran’s suspension was “a serious substantive flaw, [such as] ... a demonstrated inability to meet the threshold criteria of competence in the law.” Novak, 903 F.2d at 888. Had Guran been suspended solely for the financial charges originally brought against him, on the authority of Water-house we might well have upheld Bellamy’s conviction. But when an attorney is admittedly incapable of preparing for a hearing to be held a week or two before a criminal trial, when that incapacity is the ground for suspension from practice shortly after the trial, when that suspension would almost certainly have occurred prior to the criminal trial but for an unfulfilled promise to be assisted by competent counsel during the trial, and when the attorney’s client is ignorant of all of this, we feel obligated by our cases to hold on such unusual facts that the client has been denied the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed a defendant by the Constitution.
Because we have found that there was per se ineffective assistance of counsel, we do not reach the other claims raised by appellant. The judgment of the district court is reversed and the case is remanded for a grant of the writ of habeas corpus under appropriate conditions.