Court Opinion

ID: 9451110
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:06:46.381108+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:34.530955
License: Public Domain

SMITH, Circuit Judge, with whom BIGGS and FREEDMAN, Circuit Judges, join
(dissenting).
We are of the opinion that the petition for rehearing should be granted, the rehearing to be limited to the question raised by the appellant’s claim that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. As we view the facts in this case the principle established by Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964) is applicable. Therein Mr. Justice Stewart, writing for the majority of the Court, stated at page 206, 84 S.Ct. at page 1203:
“We hold that the petitioner was denied the basic protections of that guarantee when there was used against him at his trial evidence of his own incriminating words, which federal agents had deliberately elicited from him after he had been indicted and in the absence of his counsel.”
We believe that the appellant in the instant case, like the petitioner in the Massiah case, was denied the effective assistance of counsel at a critical stage in his prosecution.