Court Opinion

ID: 9648380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:17:32.508139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:59.598645
License: Public Domain

SEILER, Judge
(concurring in result).
At the February 2, 1970 appearance in circuit court, where the court ruled defendant competent to proceed in the criminal trial, original appointed counsel candidly stated, “Judge, my heart’s not in it” and “I haven’t taken too much care to prepare the case.”1 With this limited interest on part of counsel, it is not surprising important possibilities were overlooked or that defendant was seeking to change counsel.
In my opinion, counsel’s self-characterization of his representation is not inaccurate, and I do not see how this kind of representation can be held to be the effective assistance of counsel which we guarantee every defendant. Certainly it is below the standard we expect of lawyers generally. However, under McQueen v. State, 475 S.W.2d 211 (Mo. banc 1971) I see no alternative to concurring in result.
The net result of cases such as this is that the defendant, the courts, and the lawyers, as well as the public, come out on the short end: (1) the defendant, instead of getting effective assistance of counsel at the outset of his case, is relegated to an inquiry made long after the event as to whether effective assistance of counsel originally would have helped him and (2) the courts, lawyers, and public must take time to hold a hearing and determine what could have been developed for defendant had counsel given the case proper attention in the beginning. We would save time for all, as well as enhance respect for law, by insisting on effective assistance of counsel from the start, rather than somewhere down the line.

. February 2,1970 also was the date the ease had been set for trial.