Court Opinion

ID: 9884232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:48:16.476875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:36.660930
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Schaefer, dissenting: I am unable to agree with the following statements in the opinion of the court: “Our court has long held that a defendant who chooses his own attorney cannot complain about that attorney’s lack of care and skill in handling his case. Since the defendant was represented by counsel of his own choosing, counsel’s alleged failure to exercise care and skill in the trial of his case cannot afford a basis for reversing the judgment rendered. People v. Underhill, 38 Ill.2d 245.” In People v. Underhill, upon which the opinion relies, the court did not automatically refuse to examine the claim of incompetent representation by retained counsel. On the contrary, the court there concluded: “From an examination of the record, we cannot say that defendant’s representation was so inadequate as to violate the standards laid down for private counsel.” 38 Ill.2d, at 254. The rule that has heretofore been applied by this court was stated in People v. Pride, 16 Ill.2d 82, 94: “We have held that where a defendant in a criminal case employs counsel of his own choice, his judgment of conviction will not be reversed merely because his counsel failed to exercise the greatest skill or for the reason that it might appear, in looking back over the trial, that he had made some tactical blunder. (People v. Stephens, 6 Ill.2d 257; People v. Ney, 349 Ill. 172.) When the representation of the defendant, however, is of such low caliber as to amount to no representation and reduces the trial to a farce, this court will reverse a conviction because the defendant, under these circumstances, has been deprived of his constitutional right to a fair trial. People v. De Simone, 9 Ill.2d 522; People v. Morris, 3 Ill.2d 437.” When a question of the competence of retained counsel has been raised, it has been the practice of this court to determine that question upon an examination of the entire record. See, e.g., People v. Duncan, 32 Ill.2d 322; People v. Palmer, 27 Ill.2d 311; People v. Strader, 23 Ill.2d 13; People v. Pride, 16 Ill.2d 82; People v. Clark, 9 Ill.2d 46; People v. Clark, 7 Ill.2d 163; People v. Stephens, 6 Ill.2d 257. To erect an insurmountable barrier which precludes all inquiry as to the competence of the representation of a defendant in a criminal case solely upon the ground that he was represented by retained counsel is unwise, in my opinion, even apart from the serious constitutional question it raises.