ARTHUR MCCLOGAN ROBERTS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Arthur Roberts appealed the denial of his postconviction motion claiming ineffective assistance of trial counsel based on his attorney's dual representation of both him and his wife in a drug trafficking case. The court affirmed the denial, holding that while dual representation carries risk, Roberts failed to demonstrate concrete prejudice resulting from the conflict.
Dual representation is not automatically grounds for collateral relief. A defendant claiming deprivation of the right to effective counsel must conclusively demonstrate that prejudice resulted from the conflict. Because Roberts failed to demonstrate specific prejudice or that his choice to waive the conflict was the product of misinformation, he was not entitled to relief.
[1] Dual representation of codefendants, while potentially risky, does not automatically constitute ineffective assistance of counsel.
[2] A defendant claiming ineffective assistance of counsel due to dual representation must demonstrate prejudice resulting from the failure to provide separate attorneys.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a defendant claiming a deprivation of his constitutional right to effective counsel must conclusively demonstrate that prejudice resulted from the failure to provide separate lawyers for each defendant”
Establishes the legal standard for ineffective assistance claims based on dual representation conflicts
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRoberts and his wife were charged with drug trafficking and represented by the same attorney. The state filed a motion to determine if a conflict of i…
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Arthur Roberts appeals the summary denial of his motion for postconviction relief. We affirm.
The sole issue raised by the motion is ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The same attorney represented both Roberts and his wife on charges of drug trafficking. Since, in Roberts’s view, their defenses were “contradictory and overlapping,” this dual representation was improper and operated to his detriment.
The state, prior to the Roberts’s trial, appears to have recognized the likelihood of the conflict, and filed a motion to determine whether one in fact existed. In response both defendants signed a waiver of conflict of interest. The trial court questioned both defendants regarding this waiver and found it to have been voluntary. Although Roberts argues otherwise, we believe this inquiry satisfied the standard set out in DeArce v. State, 405 So. 2d 283 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), and United States v. Alvarez, 580 F. 2d 1251 (5th Cir.1978). Following this ruling the state moved to sever the two defendants’ trials because of potential violations of Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). The trials were severed, but still conducted simultaneously, in that two separate juries were impaneled. While this unusual procedure may have cured the Bru-ton problem, Roberts nevertheless insists that it failed to forestall counsel’s conflict of interest.
While perhaps a risky undertaking, dual representation is not ipso facto a basis for collateral relief. Rather, a defendant claiming a deprivation of his constitutional right to effective counsel must conclusively demonstrate that prejudice resulted from the failure to provide separate lawyers for each defendant. Parker v. State, 239 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970). In the present case Roberts does assert specific instances of prejudice. Even so, such a claim amounts to little more than second-guessing his own prior choice to share a single attorney with his codefend-ant — a choice made in the face of warnings from the state and the trial court. Perhaps if Roberts had demonstrated that this choice was itself the product of misinformation or worse, we might reach a different result. However, in the absence of such a contention, we agree with the trial court that Roberts is entitled to no relief.
Affirmed.
RYDER, A.C.J., and FRANK and ALTENBERND, JJ., concur.
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Larzelere v. State, 676 So. 2d 394 (Fla. 1996)…nt removal of counsel. Under these circumstances, we find that the trial judge properly denied the motions to discharge counsel. First, appellant has failed to show how she was prejudiced by the continued representation. See, e.g., Roberts v. State, 573 So. 2d 964 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991) (once defendant voluntarily chooses to proceed with dual representation, defendant must show prejudice in the form of actual conflict to succeed in a subsequent claim for ineffective assistance of counsel); Morgan v. State, 550 So…
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Velez v. State, 596 So. 2d 1197 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)…ersal in the matter before it.” People v. Harris, 47 Cal.3d 1047, 255 Cal.Rptr. 352, 767 P. 2d 619, 635 (1989). The two Florida [*1200] courts that have addressed the issue affirmed convictions that followed the use of dual juries. Roberts v. State, 573 So. 2d 964 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991); Feeney v. State, 359 So. 2d 569 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). In Feeney, the first district remarked that [t]he law is, and must be, dynamic and not static. Procedural law is no exception. Experience comes about as a result of experiment…
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Llewellyn P. Woseley and Cynthia K. Madison v. State, 590 So. 2d 979 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)…ourt recognized that a defendant, after being fully informed of the ramifications of his decision, should be given the opportunity to waive his right to conflict-free counsel. In Barclay v. Wainwright, 444 So. 2d 956 (Fla.1984) and Roberts v. State, 573 So. 2d 964 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991), the court also recognized that a defendant can make an effective waiver of conflict. In Roberts, prior to trial the state filed a motion to determine whether a conflict existed since the same attorney was representing two defenda…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123 (U.S. 1968)
- United States v. Alvarez, 580 F.2d 1251 (5th Cir. 1978)
- DeARCE v. State, 405 So. 2d 283 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
- Parker v. State, 239 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970)