Court Opinion

ID: 9521648
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:09:24.150483+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:02.939118
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, specially concurring: I concur, except that I disagree with the court’s holding that the defendant waived her right to object to any conflict of interest that might have existed. The situation here, as the majority opinion sets it forth, is that attorney Diamond filed a petition stating that, because of his supposed conflict of interest, the two defendants (Bernice Lewis and Willie Sangster) felt he could not fairly represent them. A hearing followed to consider whether attorney Diamond should continue in the case. The court first asked Sangster how he felt about being represented by attorney Diamond. I would characterize his response as a strong negative. Sangster not only expressed the feeling that the attorney’s previous friendship with the murder victim would interfere with the enthusiasm that was necessary for the attorney to represent Sangster but also observed that he felt the attorney would be influenced by the fact that the victim was white and the defendant was black. Next, after noting that Bernice Lewis had heard Sangster’s statement, the judge asked her to state her position. Lewis’s response was a 180-degree turn from her position that counsel had indicated in the petition which initiated the hearing — that is, that attorney Diamond could not fairly represent her because of his friendship with the victim. I find nothing in Sangster’s statement which could have led Bernice Lewis to change her position. Everything Sangster said was completely consistent with and supported the position that, according to the attorney’s petition, Sangster and Lewis had been taking. In these circumstances I feel that justice and constitutional guarantees required the trial judge to look further for the defendant’s reason for her dramatic shift in position. Her response, in view of her previously stated position and Sangster’s statement, was totally unexpected. The judge, instead of accepting her response at face value and proceeding with Mr. Diamond as her attorney, had the responsibility of determining whether she really knew what she was doing. In making this inquiry the trial judge should have considered both the fact that the defendant was being tried a long distance from her home in Des Moines, Iowa, as well as her background, experience and education. (Johnson v. Zerbst (1938), 304 U.S. 458, 464, 82 L. Ed. 1461,1466, 58 S. Ct. 1019, 1023.) The record does not show that the trial judge was presented with any of this information when he concluded there was no good reason Mr. Diamond could not represent the defendant. Perhaps Bernice Lewis thought that if attorney Diamond did not represent her, the court would not provide other counsel. Perhaps she thought that after Sangster had injected racial issues into the proceedings with his statement, she, being black, could curry favor with the white judge and white defense attorney by acquiescence. Perhaps there were other motivations. Whatever the reason, the record is devoid of a satisfactory explanation for her change of mind and the trial judge, instead of accepting her reversal, should have delved deeper to find out the reason. I am not satisfied that what the majority accepts as a waiver was either knowing or voluntary, especially because the law raises every reasonable presumption against waiver of fundamental constitutional rights (People v. Stoval (1968), 40 Ill. 2d 109, 114), among which is the right to counsel guaranteed by the sixth amendment and provided by article I, section 8, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970. I concur rather than dissent because, although the defendant’s objection was not effectively waived, I agree with the majority that any conflict which existed was not a per se conflict and that no shortcoming has been shown in the legal representation the defendant received. The general rule is that an indigent defendant is not entitled to counsel of her choice. (People v. Cox (1961), 22 Ill. 2d 534.) Where a per se conflict does not exist, this general rule is applicable. A defendant may as a matter of grace, and upon timely demand, be given new counsel when any perceivable conflict is slight and remote, as in this case. But, new counsel under such circumstances is not a matter of right. And, unless the defendant can show she was prejudiced by the representation she received, I agree with the majority that a new trial is not required. I also agree with the majority that Bernice Lewis has not made such a showing here, and thus join in the judgment of the court.