Court Opinion

ID: 9464173
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:26:48.289879+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:29.788582
License: Public Domain

TIMBERS, Circuit Judge,
concurring specially:
I concur in the judgment of the Court which affirms the convictions of all appellants on all counts.
I also concur in most of Judge Oakes’ thoughtful, perceptive majority opinion. With respect to the issues referred to below, however, while I concur in the result reached and the actual holding on each issue, I wish to state separately the grounds of my concurrence.
(1) Effective Assistance Of Counsel
Appellant Turner claims a denial of effective assistance of counsel based upon the *1367alleged inadequacy of his appointed counsel’s cross-examination of Dawson.
Under the standard in this Circuit for determining lack of effective assistance of counsel as enunciated in United States v. Wight, 176 F.2d 376, 379 (2 Cir. 1949) (Smith, J.), cert. denied, 338 U.S. 950 (1950), and as recently reaffirmed in Rickenbacker v. Warden, 550 F.2d 62, 65-66 (2 Cir. 1976) (Smith, J.), Turner’s representation was not ineffective and his claim must be denied.
The majority opinion, after citing United States v. Wight, supra, holds that “[ujnder this test, Turner’s claim plainly must be denied.” Ante 1360. I agree.
Judge Oakes, who was the author of the dissenting opinion in Rickenbacker v. Warden, supra, then proceeds to discuss whether Turner’s representation complied with the “standard of reasonable competency”, ante 1360, and concludes that “it cannot be characterized as unreasonably incompetent”, ante 1360 — which is the standard advocated by Judge Oakes in his dissenting opinion in Rickenbacker: “. . . I think our court should recognize that the right is equally meaningless if counsel is not at least reasonably competent.” 550 F.2d at 68.
Whether the purpose of this dictum in Judge Oakes’ opinion is to have our Court appear to sidle into a double standard for determining effective assistance of counsel or simply to get around the Wight-Rickenbacker standard without bothering with the en banc procedure, I wish to make it clear that my concurrence in the holding on this issue is grounded solely on the standard in this Circuit for determining effective assistance of counsel as enunciated in United States v. Wight, supra, and the many, many cases in our Circuit which uniformly have adhered to the stringent standard of Wight over a period of three decades.1
(2) Court’s Communication With A Juror Regarding A Deeply Personal Problem Of The Juror
During the jury deliberations one juror came to Judge Duffy with a personal problem arising from a death in his family and particularly his obligations as a member of the Jewish faith to make funeral arrangements. Judge Duffy resolved the problem with the juror in such a manner as not to interrupt the jury deliberations and so as not to have the juror feel under any time pressure to curtail the deliberations.
The majority, while recognizing that the subject matter of the communication between the court and the juror had nothing to do with the merits of the ease, was of deep personal concern to the juror and was somewhat embarrassing to the juror in its details, nevertheless concludes that the trial court committed harmless error. Ante 1366.2
I find no error whatsoever to have been committed by the trial court. On that ground I concur in the holding on this issue: that there is no basis for reversal or remand.
Moreover, experience on the trial court impels me to commend Judge Duffy for the manner in which he handled this personal problem of a juror without disrupting the jury deliberations and without placing the juror under any pressure.
(3) “Wheel” And “Chain” Type Conspiracies
Finally, after noting the government’s description of the core group of the alleged conspiracy in the instant case “as the ‘hub’ *1368around which multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics were purchased and distributed”, ante 1350, the majority proceeds in footnote 2 to note with approval “the Fifth Circuit’s view” in belittling the distinction between “wheel” and “chain” type conspiracies. I decline to accept this view of the Fifth Circuit, if indeed it is that Circuit’s view.
In the first place, the Fifth Circuit itself does not reject the distinction in United States v. Perez, 489 F.2d 51, 58-59 (text) and 59 n. 11 (first paragraph, immediately preceding the paragraph quoted by the majority in footnote 2) (5 Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 945 (1974). In United States v. Borelli, 336 F.2d 376, 383-84 (2 Cir. 1964), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 960 (1965), I read Judge Friendly’s opinion as stressing the importance of accurately describing the two types of conspiracies. And of course the distinction has become so entrenched in the minds of the bench and bar as the result of our many, many opinions using this terminology, see, e. g., United States v. Sperling, 506 F.2d 1323, 1330 (2 Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 962 (1975); United States v. Sisca, 503 F.2d 1337, 1340, 1345 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1008 (1974), that, until someone can devise better language, I think that a footnote of this sort serves only to add more confusion, especially since it is wholly unnecessary to the decision.

. Since the filing of the opinion in the instant case, our Court in at least two other cases has adhered to the Wight-Rickenbacker standard. LiPuma v. Commissioner, Department of Corrections, 560 F.2d 84, 91 (2 Cir. 1977); United States v. Bubar (2 Cir. 1977), slip op. 4519, 4536 (June 30, 1977).

. The majority’s reliance, ante 1365, on United States v. Robinson, 544 F.2d 611, 621 (2 Cir. 1976), I assume to be inadvertent, the case recently having been en banced and its continued viability being very much in doubt.
Since the filing of the opinion in the instant case, the en banc opinion in United States v. Robinson, 560 F.2d 507 (2 Cir. 1977) (en banc), expressly vacated the panel judgment and decision, id. at 509, and held that the trial court’s failure to disclose the contents of the juror’s note to counsel did not constitute prejudicial error. Id. at 516-17.