Court Opinion

ID: 9456111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:42:18.937895+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:51.053941
License: Public Domain

VAN DUSEN, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I concur in the court’s opinion except to the extent that the language used on page 15 purports to hold, by way of obiter dictum, that the standard required of the states by the Fourteenth Amendment *741in furnishing counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases is contained in the authorities cited in footnote 27, as opposed to that stated in all the federal cases dealing with this question such as McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 770-772, 90 S.Ct. 1441, 25 L.Ed.2d 763 (1970); Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 53-54, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970), the cases cited in ABA Standards Relating to Providing Defense Services, page 2, and our own decision in United States ex rel. Darcy v. Handy, 203 F.2d 407, 427 (3rd Cir. 1953), where this court emphasized the affirmative requirements of “complete loyalty” and efforts “in good faith to the best of [counsel’s] ability.” See, also, ABA Standards Relating to Providing Defense Services, Principles 1.1, 1.4, 2.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, App. B, p. 68 (“counsel whose experience is commensurate with the seriousness of the charge”), p. 69 (par. 4, including “experienced, competent and zealous counsel”), App. C, pars. 1 and 7 (1967). See, also, ABA Standards Relating to the Prosecution Function and the Defense Function: The Defense Function, Principles 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 4.1, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, and Parts VI, VII, and VIII (1970); ABA Standards Relating to Criminal Appeals, Principles 2.2, 3.2 (1969). Since the distinguished draftsmen of the ABA Standards Relating to Providing Defense Services concluded that (page 1):
“No controlling authority, either statute or decision, yet directly requires that the advocates must possess any particular standard of skill, but it is implicit that representation should be adequate to the need. No one can guarantee that the particular lawyer representing one side will be professionally the equal of the other; what is important is that the system for providing counsel and facilities for the defense be as good as the system which society provides for the prosecution.”
judicial restraint indicates that we should not articulate a standard in this area of the Fourteenth Amendment inasmuch as it is not involved in this federal criminal appeal and the Bar is taking vigorous steps to comply with the Fourteenth Amendment’s commands in this area. In carrying out the principles of the ABA Standards Relating to Defense Services, developments may occur which will enable a more effective standard to be formulated than that provided by the state decisions relied on in footnote 27.
MARIS, Circuit Judge, joins in this opinion.