Court Opinion

ID: 9709707
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:53:21.950093+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:50.214690
License: Public Domain

BARTEAU, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I respectfully dissent from the holding on assistance of counsel.
The majority cites but one authority, Strong v. State (1989), Ind., 588 N.E.2d 924, 926, from which we learn that "[mjerely requiring a defendant's lawyer to testify does not alone constitute a material interference with his function as an advocate." Therefore in Strong there was no error in the following procedure: a child witness was interviewed by the defense during pretrial; the interview was recorded and transcribed, and a copy of the transcript given to the prosecutor; at trial, during a hearing outside the presence of the jury on the competency of the child to testify, after the defense cross-examined the child (and presumably pointed out discrepancies between the testimony and statements from the interview), the prosecutor wanted to play the recording of the interview (presumably to rehabilitate the child-witness); however, the tape was unavailable, so the judge permitted the State to call to the stand the defendant's lead counsel, and then required counsel to read from the transcript. The holding of no error limits itself to those "particular circumstances," and points out that "[alt all times during [lead counsel's] testimony, co-counsel ... remained and actively served as trial counsel for the defendant." Id.
The majority relies only obliquely on Strong, and rightly so, because what happened there is a far ery from what happened here. In O'Neill's case, defense counsel left the courtroom and went with the prosecutor at the judge's order to the clerk's office, to find an original document and then compare it against a photocopy the prosecutor wanted in evidence as proof of a prior felony. This photocopy had been proffered as one of five documents that had been assembled, along with a clerk's *387Ind.Trial Rule 44 certification, into a six-part exhibit. Counsel objected because the prosecutor had disassembled the exhibit at some point before trial. Initially the judge overruled the objection, and the State presented a not atypical habitual offender case; documentary evidence combined with fingerprint verification testimony. When the State rested, the defense requested and received rehearing on the objection.1 It was after a conference covering twenty-three pages of transcript that the judge, expressing a desire for accuracy and for fairness to the defendant, ordered the adversaries to the clerk's office.
Upon their return, counsel took the stand and testified that the photocopy was an accurate copy. Granted, this took place outside the presence of the jury, as in Strong, but unlike that case, here O'Neill was left unrepresented when his counsel took the stand. This defendant was deprived not only of effective counsel, but of any counsel at alll No one was there to object to defense counsel's testimony, let alone his even testifying. No one was there to test him on cross.2
What happened here could be deemed either trial court error or ineffective assistance of counsel. Regardless of the label, in my view reversal is in order. But, my view not having carried the day, I see no need to analyze whether this aberrant procedure warrants reversal for dismissal, based on the double jeopardy bar and our holding the six-part exhibit inadmissible and the remainder of the State's proof insufficient, or, reversal for retrial. In any event, I find unacceptable the spectacle of a defense counsel becoming both an investigator for the State and its inculpating witness, while leaving his client totally unrepresented. I am unwilling to countenance such a departure from orthodox trial procedure, harmless or otherwise.3

. To support the motion for rehearing, defense counsel cited Eldridge v. State (1977), 266 Ind. 134, 361 N.E.2d 155, reh'g denied, cert. denied 434 U.S. 928, 98 S.Ct. 412, 54 L.Ed.2d 287 and Kelly v. State (1990), Ind., 561 N.E.2d 771.

. Strong supported its holding by reaching back to a 1975 case from California, United States v. Freeman (9th Cir.1975), 519 F.2d 67. In that case, when counsel testified, the trial judge appointed a defense counsel pro tempore.

. Appellate counsel, citing among others Perry v. Leeke (1989), 488 U.S. 272, 109 S.Ct. 594, 102 L.Ed.2d 624 argues that in cases of "state invasions of the lawyer-client relationship ... reversal is required without a consideration of what prejudice, if any, resulted from the invasion...." I note that Perry "intended to make clear that '[aJetual or constructive denial of the assistance of counsel altogether' ... is not subject to the kind of prejudice analysis that is appropriate in determining whether the quality of a lawyer's performance itself has been constitutionally ineffective." 488 U.S. at 280-281, 109 S.Ct. at 600, 102 L.Ed.2d 624 (quoting Strickland v. Washington (1984), 466 U.S. 668, 692, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2063-64, 80 L.Ed.2d 674).