Court Opinion

ID: 9573069
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:47:31.124858+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:36:48.182983
License: Public Domain

CARDINE, Justice,
dissenting.
I cannot agree to reversal of this case and remand for new trial. There is no record presented by appellant that justifies the unjustified assertions of ineffective assistance of counsel. For example, the court states that “[tjhere is no indication in the record that King’s defense attorney had tried, in advance, to interview Linda King.” Maj.op. at 121. And, later in the opinion, the court states: “The defense attorney * * * apparently, failed even to interview the witnesses.” Maj.op. at 123. The fact is, defense counsel may have interviewed all the witnesses. The record is simply silent, and this court takes silence to mean that the witnesses were not interviewed. The burden is upon appellant to establish a record demonstrating ineffective assistance of counsel. Appellant must show that witnesses were not interviewed, and he has failed to do that in this case.
With respect to the failure to call witnesses, we have repeatedly said that may have been strategy of defense counsel. We are unable to tell from this record whether it was or not. Ike’s nonappearance was explained as an honest misunderstanding which was later corrected. I am not prepared to say that the witness lied. A subpoena, issued for the wife four days before trial, was sufficient. The wife was present in the county subject to subpoena. Defense counsel may have decided she would be a poor witness or might not stand up on cross-examination. It is clear they could have produced her. The fact that defense counsel did not produce her as a witness or call her is as likely an intended strategy decision as not. In any event, because of the state of this record, we just do not know why she was not called. Again appellant does not present us with a record that tells what the witnesses would have testified to if called and that such testimony would have changed the result of the trial. The burden is that of the appellant, not the State. Having failed in that burden, it was not justification for reversal.
Finally, there is the suggestion of conflict of interest in this public defender representing appellant at the trial. Some considerable time before occurrence of the incident which gave rise to these charges, the public defender had provided his services to Pamela Thompson, then having serious drug problems and needing care and treatment, to obtain her admission to a treatment center for persons with drug problems. Pamela Thompson was placed in a drug treatment center, and that ended any contact defense counsel had with her. Sometime subsequent to defense counsel assisting in Pamela Thompson’s placement for drug treatment, the incident which gave rise to these charges occurred. They are totally unrelated to anything that had occurred prior to this incident. There was absolutely no reason why the public defender could not represent this appellant in defending the charges made against him.
First, I would affirm. Rather than reverse, as the court now proposes, I would in the alternative remand this case to produce a proper record to present appellant’s issues on appeal. When it becomes clear that a possibility of a conflict of interest exists, the trial court has a duty to make further inquiry. Wood v. Georgia, 450 U.S. 261, 272, 101 S.Ct. 1097, 1104, 67 L.Ed.2d 220 (1981). See also Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 346, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1717, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980). The potential conflict here was brought to the court’s attention in two ways. First, King’s attorney asked about his former representation of the witness when she was cross-examined. Second, King brought it up when he asked for new counsel. At that time, the court did not inquire into the potential conflict but basically admonished King for *126bringing this up at such a late time. The United States Supreme Court in Wood remanded the matter back to district court for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether an actual conflict existed. 450 U.S. at 273-74, 101 S.Ct. at 1104. Remand for such a hearing would surely be a better route to take here rather than reversal.
The majority opinion makes an assumption that King’s attorney did not investigate to reach a conclusion of presumed ineffectiveness, and also suggests conflict of interest of defense counsel without any record support or any appellate defense counsel effort to make a proper record. Because there is no record and will be no record that supports a reversal of this conviction, I would at this time affirm. And I will continue to object to this kind of deficiency on appeal until appellants understand that they must come forth with a record that supports the claims now asserted by conjecture and innuendo.