Court Opinion

ID: 9525136
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:00:15.707301+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:13:07.885636
License: Public Domain

R. M. Maher, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent.
In evaluating an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, this Court employs a two-part test. People v Garcia, 398 Mich 250; 247 NW2d 547 (1976). I believe that defendant’s counsel failed to satisfy one part of this test, viz.:
"Defense counsel must perform at least as well as a lawyer with ordinary training and skill in the criminal law and must conscientiously protect his client’s interests, undeflected by conflicting considerations.” People v Garcia, supra, p 264, quoting Beasley v United States, 491 F2d 687, 696 (CA 6, 1974).
It should first be noted that defendant was represented by two lawyers practicing out of the same office. Defendant’s first attorney spent very little time with his client. He discussed no defenses or trial strategy with defendant, interviewed no witnesses and did no discovery. Perhaps most impor*83tantly, this attorney never discussed with defendant the possibility of pleading guilty.
At the plea-taking hearing, defendant was represented by a second attorney. The record reveals that she never discussed the case with defendant’s original attorney and the office file contained little information about the facts of the case. As a result, defendant’s second attorney was in no position to weigh the pros and cons about going to trial or pleading guilty.
I believe that an attorney of ordinary skill and training in the criminal law would not allow his or her client to plead guilty knowing nothing about the merits of his or her client’s case. Thus, a defendant who is considering offering a plea of guilty has the right to be advised by an attorney who is so informed. The right to effective assistance of counsel requires at least that quality of assistance.
In the present case, defendant’s first attorney— who knew something about the case — never talked to defendant about pleading guilty. Defendant’s second lawyer apparently did discuss a guilty plea with defendant, but she knew nothing about the merits of defendant’s case. Thus, defendant was never advised by informed counsel as to the desirability of pleading guilty and, consequently, was denied the right to effective assistance of counsel.
I would reverse.