Court Opinion

ID: 9485875
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:32:36.80523+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:24.970405
License: Public Domain

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge, with whom Circuit Judge T.G. NELSON, joins,
concurring:
At issue in this case is the conduct of the government. Because it does not seem to me that the story began or ended with the prosecutor’s misbehavior, I feel compelled to say a few words about the actions of Mr. Tarlow, Mr. Twitty, and the. magistrate judge.
Tarlow told Lopez at the outset of the representation that it was his “general policy” not to represent clients in plea negotiations that contemplate cooperation with the government. United States v. Lopez, 765 F.Supp. 1433, 1438-39 (N.D.Cal.1991). In a declaration submitted to the district court, Tarlow elaborated that he considers such negotiations “personally morally and ethically offensive,” and that, while he would have conveyed an offer of cooperation to Lopez, “another attorney would be willing and better able to arrange his informant activities.” Id. at 1440 n. 12. Although Tarlow apparently did not say so explicitly, Lopez took Tarlow’s policy statement to mean that if Lopez wanted to negotiate, Tarlow would withdraw from representing him altogether. See id. at 1439-40.
Concerned about the welfare of his children because he thought his wife might not be caring for them properly, Lopez decided *1465that he wanted to explore the possibility of an earlier release by cooperating with the government. • Lopez also wanted Tarlow to try the case if it went to trial. Faced with a difficult dilemma that he may not have anticipated when he retained Tarlow as counsel, Lopez decided to meet with the government unrepresented. I question whether Tarlow’s “general policy” was in the,best interests of his clients generally, and Lopez’s specifically.
A criminal attorney who is bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California (“California Rules”) and California’s standards of professional conduct, as was Tarlow by virtue of the Northern District’s Local Rule 110-3, is not free to terminate his or her representation of a client at will, or for mere personal considerations, or without the permission of the court. People v. Castillo, 233 Cal.App.3d 36, 284 Cal.Rptr. 382, 392 (1991), review denied, 1991 Cal. LEXIS 5144 (Cal. Nov. 14, 1991) (citing People v. Murphy, 35 Cal.App.3d 905, 111 Cal.Rptr. 295, 304 (1974)); see also N.D.Cal. Local Rule 110-3 (attorneys practicing in Northern District must comply with “the standards of professional conduct required of members of the State Bar of California and contained in the State Bar Act, the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California, and decisions of any court applicable thereto”). Notably, although under the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (“ABA Model Rules”) an attorney may withdraw from representation if the client “insists upon pursuing an objective that the lawyer considers repugnant or imprudent,” no comparable provision appears in the California Rules. Compare ABA Model Rule 1.16(b)(3) with Cal. Rule 3-700(C). See also Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. 1, 24 n. 6, 103 S.Ct. 1610, 1623 n. 6, 75 L.Ed.2d 610 (1983) (Brennan, J., concurring) (noting that continuous representation of a criminal defendant throughout trial court proceedings “ ‘affords the best opportunity for the development of a close and confidential attorney-client relationship’”) (quoting ABA Standards for Criminal Justice); Harold S. Lewis, Jr., Commentary: Shaffer’s Suffering Client, Freedman’s Suffering Lawyer, 38 Cath.U.L.Rev. 129,133 n. 13 (criticizing Model Rule 1.16(b)(3) for allowing an attorney to withdraw for reasons of conscience because it “unfairly disappoints the client’s reasonable expectations.”) Because moral repugnance is not listed in the California Rules as a ground for permissive withdrawal, and because a criminal defense lawyer may not be entitled to assert moral repugnance to plea bargaining in any event, it is not, certain, were a court to consider the matter, that Tarlow’s general policy would prevail over a client’s wish to pursue preliminary plea discussions with the government. See John W. Hall, Jr., Professional Responsibility of the Criminal Lawyer § 14.2, at 472 (1987) (“If the nature of the case warrants it, defense counsel should explore plea discussions with the prosecutor.”); cf. Mason v. Balcom, 531 F.2d 717 (5th Cir.1976) (ineffective assistance in part due to counsel’s failure to plea bargain when his client may have benefitted); People v. Frierson, 39 Cal.3d 803, 218 Cal.Rptr. 73, 78-79, 705 P.2d 396, 401-03 (1985) (listing fundamental decisions over which the defendant, rather than his or her counsel, retains ultimate control; “the decision whether to plead guilty to a lesser offense ... frequently reflecte strategic concerns, but a defendant nonetheless retains personal control over such a plea.”); Cal. Rule 3-510(A)(1) (“A member [of the state bar] shall promptly communicate ... [a]ll terms and conditions of any offer made to the client in a criminal matter.”); ABA Model Rule 1.4 comment (“A lawyer who receives ... a proffered plea bargain iñ a criminal case should promptly inform the client of its substance unless prior discussions with the client have left it clear that the proposal will be unacceptable.”)
Ideally, sufficient candor and trust are present in an attorney-client relationship such that a defendant does not feel compelled to resort to clandestine meetings with the government. Indeed, the model of a successful attorney-client relationship, as expounded in Strickland v. Washington, is one in which “[Counsel’s actions are ... based ... on informed strategic choices made by the defendant and on information supplied by the defendant.” 466 U.S. 668, 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2066, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); see also Campbell v. Kincheloe, 829 F.2d 1453, 1463 *1466(9th Cir.1987) (“The client’s wishes are not to be ignored entirely.”), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 948, 109 S.Ct. 380, 102 L.Ed.2d 369 (1988). Tarlow’s relationship with Lopez fell far short of the ideal.
As for Twitty, counsel for codefendant Es-cobedo, his conduct was, undeniably, less than exemplary. Twitty had access to Lopez at Pleasanton correctional facility, where Es-cobedo was also incarcerated, because Twitty was responsible for what may have been an ill-conceived “joint investigation” of the two defendants’ cases. In view of Lopez’s problem with Tarlow, Twitty may have intervened in Lopez’s affairs with benign intentions, but ultimately he ended up representing two defendants who had potentially conflicting interests. Although he informed Lopez that he could not act as his lawyer, Twitty nonetheless apparently advised both Lopez and Escobedo during the first meeting with the government, and may have pressured Lopez to provide information to the prosecutor during the second. 765 F.Supp. at 1442-43.
The Sixth Amendment contemplates that the assistance of counsel be “untrammeled and unimpaired by ... requiring that one lawyer should simultaneously represent conflicting interests.” Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 70, 62 S.Ct. 457, 465, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942); see also. Cal.Rule 3-310(B) (“A member [of the state bar] shall not concurrently represent clients whose interests conflict, except with their informed written consent.”); ABA Model Rule 1.7(b) (“A lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation of that client may be materially limited by the lawyers’ responsibilities to another client ... unless ... the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will not be adversely affected[ ] and ... the client consents after consultation.”) When an attorney represents defendants with conflicting interests, “the evil ... is in what the advocate finds himself compelled to refrain from doing, not only at trial but also as to possible pretrial plea negotiations____ [T]o assess the impact of a conflict of interest' on the attorney’s options, tactics, and decisions in plea negotiations would be virtually impossible.” Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 490-91, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 1181-82, 55 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978).
Significantly, the government had apparently taken the position that a plea agreement would be possible only in the event that both Lopez and Escobedo agreed to cooperate. Id. at 1439. Assuming he felt that such cooperation was in his own best interest, Escobedo thus had an incentive to pressure Lopez to cooperate as well. Under these circumstances, Twitty was the wrong person to be acting on Lopez’s behalf during plea discussions with the government.
Finally, there are the actions of the magistrate judge to consider. Although at the hearing before the magistrate the prosecutor apparently did not say anything about his suspicion regarding the source of payment for Tarlow’s fees, the district court found that the magistrate “was operating under the mistaken assumption” that Tarlow was “being paid by a third party with interests inimical to those of Lopez.” 765 F.2d at 1452. Because the prosecutor had previously communicated such a theory to the presiding district judge and because he failed to disabuse the magistrate of her erroneous assumption, the district court found that the government “effectively misled” the magistrate. The district court further found that the magistrate did not ask Lopez certain critical questions when he appeared before her, namely, whether Tarlow’s fees were in fact being paid by someone with a conflicting interest, or whether Lopez feared for his or his family’s safety should Tarlow learn of the pending plea negotiations. Id. at 1442 n. 13, 1452 n. 38.
The magistrate was confronted with a difficult situation. Unfortunately, her decision to allow Lopez to meet with the government ultimately led to Lopez’s losing Tarlow as his counsel, the very result Lopez had sought to avoid. Although, as the district court found, her actions may have been “understandable” in view of her assumption that Tarlow was being paid by an interested third party, id. at 1452, her judgment may have benefitted from a more thorough questioning of Lopez regarding the fee arrangement with Tarlow. Some different options might have presented themselves had she been convinced that the safety of Lopez and his family were not at stake.
*1467In this era of guideline sentencing, when the applicable guideline often assumes more importance than the crime of conviction, it is not unreasonable that a defendant would want to find out what the government might offer. Various forces conspired to render that inquiry exceedingly difficult for Lopez. Contrary to the intent of the Sixth Amendment, he was left to face the “ ‘prosecutorial forces of organized society’” alone. Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 430, 106 S.Ct. 1135, 1146, 89 L.Ed.2d 410 (1986) (quoting Maine v. Moulton, 474 U.S. 159, 170, 106 S.Ct. 477, 484, 88 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985)). Others besides the prosecutor contributed to this regrettable result.