Court Opinion

ID: 2963999
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:18:46.500457+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:42:49.516064
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

        March 27, 1996          [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________

        No. 95-2144

                                    UNITED STATES,

                                      Appellee,

                                          v.

                                  PATRICK W. TRACY,

                                Defendant, Appellant.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                              FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE

                     [Hon. D. Brock Hornby, U.S. District Judge]
                                            ___________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Torruella, Chief Judge,
                                           ___________
                           Stahl and Lynch, Circuit Judges.
                                            ______________

                                 ____________________

            Patrick W. Tracy, on brief pro se.
            ________________
            Jay  P.  McCloskey,   United  States  Attorney  and  Margaret   D.
            __________________                                   _____________
        McGaughey, Assitant U.S. Attorney.
        _________

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                      Per Curiam.   Appellant Patrick  Tracy appeals  the
                      __________

            denial by the  United States District Court for  the District

            of  Maine of Tracy's motion  to vacate, set  aside or correct

            his  sentence pursuant  to  28 U.S.C.     2255.   Tracy  also

            alleges  that the court erred  in denying his  request for an

            evidentiary hearing.    We  affirm  the denial  of  both  the

            petition and  the hearing, essentially for  the reasons given

            by the  magistrate judge  in his recommended  decision, dated

            August 16, 1995.   Only one of Tracy's claims  merits further

            comment.

                 During Tracy's trial, three articles appeared in a local

            newspaper referring to Tracy's  previously having been  found

            not guilty  by reason of insanity  in a different  case.  The

            appearance  of the  articles was  noted by  the court  at the

            time.    However, the  prosecutor  and  the defense  attorney

            agreed that  it was  better not to  question the jury  on the

            matter  since  to do  so might  call  undue attention  to it.

            Tracy alleges that the  failure of his counsel to  request an

            examination of the jury constituted ineffective assistance of

            counsel.  We disagree.  

                 The record makes clear that, both prior to and after the

            articles' appearance, the  court specifically instructed  the

            jury  not to  listen  to or  to read  accounts of  the trial.

            Absent  evidence  to the  contrary,  jurors  are presumed  to

            follow a  court's instruction,  United States v.  Boylan, 898
                                            _____________     ______

            F.2d  230, 263 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 849 (1990),
                                       ____  ______

            and no evidence existed at  the time, nor has any  since been

            presented,  that  any member  of the  jury  was aware  of the

            articles   in  question.    In  such  circumstances,  Tracy's

            counsel's  decision  not to  request  an  examination of  the

            jurors  may reasonably  be  understood as  sound strategy  to

            avoid calling undue  attention to the  articles.  See  United
                                                              ___  ______

            States  v. Anello, 765 F.2d  253, 259 (1st  Cir.) (absent any
            ______     ______

            indication  that jurors  were  aware of  incident, court  was

            within  its  discretion in  not  drawing attention  to  it by

            inquiring about incident), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 996 (1985).
                                       ____  ______

            As such it clearly "falls within the wide range of reasonable

            professional  assistance" and  thus  precludes  a finding  of

            ineffective assistance.   Strickland v. Washington,  466 U.S.
                                      __________    __________

            668, 689 (1984).

                 Tracy also claims  that his attorney  failed to ask  the

            court  to examine the  jury because the  attorney was himself

            the source of  the newspaper  story and feared  that, if  the

            issue were pursued, he  would be discovered to  have violated

            District of Maine Local Rule 40(a)(4).  This rule prohibits a

            defense attorney from releasing  information during trial "if

            there is a reasonable likelihood that such dissemination will

            seriously interfere with  a fair trial."   Tracy alleges that

            the resulting  conflict of interest between  the attorney and

            himself constitutes constitutionally ineffective assistance.

                                         -3-

                 To show a conflict  of interest, "a defendant  must show

            that  (1) the lawyer  could have pursued  a plausible defense

            strategy or tactic and (2) the alternative strategy or tactic

            was  inherently in conflict with or not undertaken due to the

            attorney's other  interests or loyalties."   United States v.
                                                         _____________

            Soldevila-Lopez, 17  F.3d 480, 486  (1st Cir. 1994).   Courts
            _______________

            have  recognized that a conflict  of interest may result when

            pursuit of  a  client's interest  would lead  to evidence  of

            attorney malpractice.  See United States v. Ellison, 798 F.2d
                                   ___ _____________    _______

            1102, 1106-08 (7th  Cir. 1986), cert.  denied, 479 U.S.  1038
                                            ____   ______

            (1987)  (defendant  had  accused  attorney  of  malpractice);

            Mathis  v. Hood, 937 F.2d 790, 795 (2d. Cir. 1991) (defendant
            ______     ____

            had filed grievance with  disciplinary committee).  A showing

            of  an  actual conflict  of  interest  obviates the  need  to

            demonstrate prejudice  and constitutes a per  se violation of
                                                     ___  __

            the Sixth Amendment.  Soldevila-Lopez, 17 F.3d at 486-87.  
                                  _______________

                 Even if we credit Tracy's  allegations, he has not  made

            the requisite  showing that his attorney's failure to seek an

            examination  of  the  jury  was  due to  other  interests  or

            loyalties.   First,  Tracy  has not  explained how  examining

            whether  or not  the jury  had been  exposed to  the articles

            would  have led  to the  further examination  of who  was the

            source  of the articles.  Moreover,  at the time the issue of

            the articles arose, Tracy's attorney had not been  accused of

            any wrongdoing.   This  fact distinguishes Tracy's  case from

                                         -4-

            both  Ellison and  Mathis.    In  the  absence  of  any  such
                  _______      ______

            accusation  of the  attorney or  other evidence  of a  per se
                                                                   ___ __

            violation of the  Sixth Amendment, the charge  of conflict of

            interest  is   simply  too   "speculative"   to  support   an

            ineffective  assistance  of  counsel claim.    See Soldevila-
                                                           ___ __________

            Lopez, 17 F.3d at 486-87.
            _____

                 Affirmed.  See 1st Cir. Loc. R. 27.1.
                 ________   ___

                                                                         

                                                                         

                               

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