CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.
Respondent, Warden McVicar, appeals the grant of petitioner Lee Griffin’s habeas corpus petition. The district court granted the writ of habeas corpus on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel due to an actual conflict of interest inhering in the joint representation of Griffin and a co-defendant, Jimmy Lee Smith, by Marvin Goldenhersh in a 1981 murder trial. We affirm.
I. Introduction
Lee Griffin and Jimmy Lee Smith were convicted in June 1981 of the shooting murder of Charles Sims, Christi Smith and Ronald Walker and of the serious wounding of Charles Kellick. The shootings occurred on February 5, 1981, in the apartment which Smith and Walker shared. Three men were identified by witnesses as having been involved in the shootings — Lee Griffin, Jimmy Lee Smith and Will Hudson, who apparently was never apprehended. Griffin was initially represented by attorney Ralph Derango. He told Derango that, though he had walked in during the shooting episode, he had not been involved in the shootings but was merely an innocent bystander who had, in fact, tried to stop the shooting. On this basis, Derango approached police officer L.C. Moore and attempted to negotiate a deal for Griffin in exchange for his testimony against Smith. Derango’s overtures were apparently not well-received by the State and, perhaps for that reason, Griffin’s family retained Marvin Goldenhersh in Derango’s place approximately three weeks after Griffin’s arrest. The state court opinions in this case indicate that Mr. Goldenhersh was already representing Jimmy Smith at that time.1 People v. Griffin, 124 Ill.App.3d 169, 79 Ill.Dec. 509, 511, [882]*882463 N.E.2d 1063, 1065 (5 Dist.1984); People v. Griffin, 109 Ill.2d 293, 93 Ill.Dec. 774, 777, 487 N.E.2d 599, 602 (1985).
Mr. Goldenhersh moved to sever the trials of the two defendants on grounds that Jimmy Smith’s extensive criminal record might prejudice Griffin and that either defendant might have made admissions which could prove damaging to the other.2 In arguing the motion Mr. Goldenhersh specifically cited examples of admissions made by Griffin. The motion to sever was denied.
The potential for conflict of interest in the joint representation of Griffin and Jimmy Smith was raised at least twice prior to trial, although not by Mr. Goldenhersh. When questioned by the judge prior to trial, Mr. Goldenhersh asserted that there was no conflict in his joint representation. Then, during the hearing of motions just prior to trial, the State, apparently concerned about the potential for reversal on appeal, raised the issue of potential conflicts:
Mr. Hamilton [State’s Attorney]: The second question which I think we should deal with is whether these defenses, these defendants’ defenses will become, if they are not now, antagonistic to each other at some point in the trial. Now Mr. Goldenhersh has represented both of these defendants for some time. He has access to the Discovery provided by the State’s Attorney’s Office. He has talked with both of these defendants, and I don’t think he should be permitted to just juggle strategic weapons, if [sic] I’m not trying to suggest that there is anything improper into his continued representation of both defendants, but if he now knows that such a conflict may develop, perhaps there is a question of whether he can continue to represent both the parties....
Trial Tr. at 12.
Neither Mr. Goldenhersh nor the trial judge responded to this point and the case proceeded to trial without further inquiry into the matter.
II. The Trial
A. The Evidence
The eyewitness testimony, taken as a whole, established that three men, other than the victims, were in the apartment during the period in which the shootings occurred. Christi Smith was already in the apartment with one of these men when Sims and Kel-lick, who had come by to visit Christi and were outside the apartment, heard her crying. When she did not answer the door, they went in to investigate. Velma Robinson, who had come with Sims and Kellick, remained outside in Kelliek’s truck while they went in. Velma saw two more men get out of a red and white Cadillac and enter the apartment after Sims and Kellick had gone in.
When Sims and Kellick entered the apartment looking for her, Christi Smith was in the bathroom with one of the other three men. The two men whom Robinson had seen enter came up behind Sims and Kellick. At this point, Sims was shot by the man in the bathroom, according to Kellick. Kellick turned to run and he was shot twice — once in the back of the head and once in the face after he fell. At some point after the three men left, Kellick managed to crawl out of the apartment and hide in a basement or crawl space under the stairs.
Next, Robinson saw the same two men she had observed entering leave the apartment and drive away. A few minutes later Walker returned home and went into the building. Shortly after that, the two men in the Cadillac returned, got out of the car and went into the building as well. Robinson heard another shot, at which time she drove away in search of police. Though Walker was shot five times, he managed to make his way to a nearby convenience store where he spoke to several police officers. He died shortly [883]*883thereafter, having been taken by ambulance to a hospital.
The key issues at trial were the identification of the three men and of the role each had played. Smith was identified as a shooter by the testimony of Kellick and of three witnesses who testified as to the dying declarations of Walker. Kellick testified that Jimmy Smith shot him in the face and kicked him after he was felled by a shot from behind as he tried to run away. Three witnesses testified to having heard Walker’s dying declarations in the convenience store. Police officer Settles, state trooper Rice and store manager David Winchester each testified that he heard Walker say that Jimmy Smith shot his girlfriend (Christi Smith).
While this testimony consistently implicated Smith, there were significant contradictions in the testimony implicating Griffin in the shootings. Kellick testified that Griffin was the first man in the apartment and was in the bathroom with Christi Smith when Kellick arrived. Thus, Kellick testified, it was Griffin who shot Sims. Kellick did not identify Griffin immediately, however. He was hospitalized after the shootings due to his serious injuries. A police officer testified that at the hospital in the hours just after the shootings Kellick told him that he didn’t know who had done the shooting. Tr. at 337. Kellick testified that he did not remember talking to police during the first few days after the incident. Kellick later identified Griffin from a videotaped lineup several days after the shooting. He testified that he recognized Griffin from having seen him on two prior occasions.
Robinson, in direct contradiction of Kel-liek’s testimony, identified Griffin as one of the two men who emerged from the red and white Cadillac (later shown to be Griffin’s) and entered the apartment after Sims and Kellick.
Police officer Settles testified that Walker said that “Lee” shot him. State trooper Darrell Rice, however, testified that Walker said that Lee’s friend shot him. Winchester had not heard Walker say who had shot him.
In sum, while Kellick’s unrefuted testimony identified Jimmy Smith as his assailant and all three witnesses to Walker’s dying declaration reported his identifying Jimmy Smith as Christi Smith’s assailant, only two witnesses, Kellick and Settles, gave testimony suggesting that Griffin had shot anyone. The testimony of each of these latter two witnesses was directly contradicted by other testimony. Thus, the identification evidence against Jimmy Smith was much stronger than the evidence against Griffin.
B. The Theory of Defense
At trial, Griffin and Smith were both represented by Mr. Goldenhersh. The two defendants presented a joint alibi defense, consisting of Griffin’s testimony that he and Smith had been at a local tavern playing cards at the time of the murders. The alibi was supported to some extent by the testimony of a witness, Priscilla Smith,3 that she had loaned Griffin five dollars and danced with him at the tavern. Priscilla Smith placed the defendants at the tavern between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. and again at sometime after 6 p.m. and said that she did not see them there after about 6:30 p.m. The shootings apparently took place sometime between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., when Walker showed up at the convenience store.
The alibi story was presented through Griffin’s and Priscilla Smith’s testimony. However, Mr. Goldenhersh’s major trial strategy was apparently to discredit the eyewitness identifications of Griffin and Jimmy Smith. Indeed, Mr. Goldenhersh did not even mention the alibi in either his opening or closing argument. Mr. Goldenhersh’s efforts to discredit the eyewitness testimony were organized around a theory that the shootings were linked to the drug-related killing of Griffin’s brother, which had occurred just a few weeks earlier.4 In his [884]*884opening statement, for example, Mr. Golden-hersh said that the evidence would show that Sims and Kellick “after killing the brother of Griffin, ... then have set up and plotted, plainly set up and plotted to make his brother, Lee Griffin, and Jimmy Smith the scapegoats of this dope-related killing.” Tr. at 159. To this end, Mr. Goldenhersh repeatedly tried to elicit detailed testimony about the drug involvement of the victims and to connect them to Griffin’s dead brother. The State resisted these attempts, stating in a portion of the proceedings held away from the presence of the jury that “[a]t best, all that Mr. Goldenhersh’s offer of proof does is provide speculation as to motive, and provide a motive for particularly defendant Griffin to have committed the offenses named in the indictment.” Tr. at 454. The trial court sustained the State’s objections to questioning along these lines, finding such questions irrelevant to the identification issues at hand. Mr. Goldenhersh, however, continued to pursue the scapegoat theory in his closing arguments, pointing out the time which passed after the shootings before either Kellick or Robinson identified the defendants and arguing that Kellick and Robinson were participating in a “cover-up.” Mr. Goldenhersh discussed at length the fact that Sims had one thousand dollars with him when he went to Christi Smith’s house and insinuated that the police investigation was not thorough and that “there couldn’t be all this dope and one thing and another without some police involvement.” Tr. at 499.
III. History of the Ineffective Assistance Claim
A. State Court History
Griffin has pursued the ineffective assistance claim which is the subject of this appeal through numerous state court proceedings. Griffin first presented the claim in his direct appeal of his conviction. In that appeal, Griffin relied on Mr. Goldenhersh’s failure to present a non-participating bystander defense as grounds for the ineffective assistance claim. Griffin Direct App. Br. He noted that Mr. Goldenhersh was aware that Griffin had made statements to the police indicating that he had been present at the scene and knew who had done the shooting, but that Mr. Goldenhersh, in spite of this, still did not pursue an innocent bystander defense.
In addition, Griffin argued that the joint representation left Mr. Goldenhersh completely unable, without compromising his representation of Smith, to impress upon the jury that the eyewitness testimony was much less conclusive with respect to Griffin than it was with respect to Smith. Instead, Mr. Goldenhersh was forced to attempt to discredit completely the testimony of these witnesses, including testimony, such as that of Trooper Rice. Rice reported Walker as saying that it was “Lee’s friend” who shot him. Of the same ilk was the testimony of Robinson that Griffin was not in the apartment when Kellick and Sims entered. This evidence would have tended to exonerate Griffin at Smith’s expense.
Griffin pointed out on direct appeal that Mr. Goldenhersh not only failed to pursue lines of inquiry which would have aided him at Smith’s expense, but actively pursued a defense strategy which was highly prejudicial to Griffin alone. By presenting the scapegoat theory, Griffin argued, Mr. Goldenhersh “succeed[ed] in [his] opening statement in giving the jury a motive for Griffin to kill the victims that the State would not have been able to elicit ... [and in] taking a defendant with no record and involving him by implication in dope traffic and a ‘dope-involved killing’.” Griffin Direct Appeal Br. at 13.
Finally, Griffin pointed out various other shortcomings in Mr. Goldenhersh’s representation, such as his attack on the morals of the victims on grounds of “drugs and inter-racial sex”; his suggestion that Kellick was involved in a cover-up when after being shot in the head he took three days to identify the perpetrators; Mr. Goldenhersh’s complete [885]*885failure to present any evidence in support of his scapegoat theory; and his failure to object to various bits of damaging argument such as the State’s Attorney’s assertion that Walker identified Lee Griffin as his killer.
The Illinois Appellate Court, on May 14, 1984, ruled that the proposed alternative bystander defense was “too speculative to constitute the actual conflict required ...” for ineffective assistance. The court noted that there was “nothing in the record to indicate that defendant Griffin presented his attorney with any facts other than those supportive of the alibi defense.” Finally, the court stated that “[t]he failure of counsel to adopt a defense inconsistent with his client’s testimony cannot reasonably be characterized as incompetent.” Griffin, 79 Ill.Dec. at 508, 463 N.E.2d at 1062.
While waiting for his appeal to be resolved, Griffin filed a state post-conviction petition. That petition was heard on October 12, 1982. In the hearing on that petition, Griffin testified that he had told both Derango and Mr. Goldenhersh that he had been present at the time of the attacks but that he had not shot anyone nor condoned the shooting. He stated that Mr. Goldenhersh had told him that if he said he was present he would be found guilty on an accountability theory. Griffin testified that he had lied at his trial when he stated that he and Smith were playing cards at the tavern while the shootings took place. He explained that he had lied because he believed that if he put himself at the scene of the crime he would be held accountable. Griffin also testified that Mr. Goldenhersh never talked to him about having his case tried separately from Smith’s and that he and Smith and Mr. Goldenhersh had agreed that, because of Smith’s prior record, Griffin would have to be the one to take the stand and testify to the alibi.
In the post-conviction proceeding, Griffin’s attorney argued that the joint representation presented a conflict, for some of the same reasons argued on direct appeal, and that it constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial judge denied the post-conviction petition, saying:
The Court is very familiar with the case, and of course what the defendant is asking me to do is disregard his prior perjured testimony and to say now that he has seen the light, and he’s in to tell the truth. I don’t know whether he’s telling the truth or not. I don’t know whether he told his attorney Mr. Goldenhersh that or not. He was afforded a defense according to the defendant’s own testimony on the stand under oath. There was no conflict in the defense between the defendant and his co-defendant. Motion will be denied.
Resp. App. Exh. C at 21-22.
Griffin’s appeal of the denial of his post-conviction petition was decided by the Illinois Appellate Court on the same day as was his direct appeal. That court reversed the trial court and granted Griffin’s post-conviction petition on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. People v. Griffin, 124 Ill.App.3d 169, 79 Ill.Dec. 509, 463 N.E.2d 1063 (5 Dist.1984). The court relied on the principle that “in some instances, however, the choice of treating co-defendants differently is more than a mere possibility; it is forced on counsel by the difference in evidence offered against co-defendants.” Id. 79 Ill.Dec. at 517, 463 N.E.2d at 1071. The court pointed out that:
In order to take full advantage of the inconsistencies in the identification of Griffin, Goldenhersh would have had to distinguish between the uncontradieted assertions that Smith killed the girl and shot Kelliek and the uncertainties about the identity of the man in the bathroom who shot Sims and the man or men who shot Walker. As it was, he only pointed to the inconsistencies and ambiguities as matters going to the credibility of the State’s witnesses. Counsel could not give Griffin the best possible defense under the circumstances because to do so would have been disloyal to Smith, his original client. Because of this conflict of loyalties, he remained silent when independent counsel would have spoken out on Griffin’s behalf.
Id. at 518, 463 N.E.2d at 1072. For these reasons the Appellate Court granted Griffin’s petition.
On the State’s appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, however, the decision of the [886]*886Appellate Court was reversed. People v. Griffin, 109 Ill.2d 293, 93 Ill.Dec. 774, 487 N.E.2d 599 (1985). The Illinois Supreme Court emphasized that the Appellate Court was not in a position to judge the credibility of Griffin’s testimony regarding what he had told Mr. Goldenhersh about whether he was present at the scene of the shooting. The Illinois Supreme Court also was unconvinced that Mr. Goldenhersh’s failure to closely explore the discrepancies in the identification testimony of the various state witnesses was ineffective assistance. The Court said that “[biased on these discrepancies, trial counsel did attack the credibility of the witnesses. His attack, however, was probably somewhat deflected by the fact that the defendant was testifying to the joint alibi that he and Smith were at the tavern.... It would seem incongruous to permit a defendant to perjure himself and then benefit from that perjury by successfully contending that his attorney, because of the perjury, did not most effectively explore grounds for his advantage.” Id. 93 Ill.Dec. at 779, 487 N.E.2d at 604.
B. Federal Habeas Corpus Proceedings
Griffin’s federal petition for writ of habeas corpus continued to argue that he received ineffective assistance of counsel from Mr. Goldenhersh due to the joint representation. Mr. Goldenhersh was deposed in connection with the habeas corpus proceedings. The magistrate judge found that “[i]n his deposition, Marvin Goldenhersh stated that only facts relating to the alibi defense were given to him while preparing for trial.” He also found that “Mr. Goldenhersh further stated that he never discussed the theory of accountability with the petitioner and did not tell him that he would be found guilty if he admitted being at the scene.” On this basis, the district court denied the habeas corpus petition. Resp. App. Exh. A at 11.
On appeal, however, this court noted apparent inconsistencies between the district court’s factual findings and the record. In particular, we pointed out that Mr. Golden-hersh testified in his deposition that he did discuss accountability with Griffin and that he stated that “there was the possibility that [Griffin] could be found guilty on the basis of accountability.” Griffin v. Camp, 40 F.3d 170, 174 (7th Cir.1994). We also noted that “[although Goldenhersh unequivocally stated that Griffin only gave him one version of the events — the version supporting the alibi defense — Goldenhersh’s other statements indicate that he had access to a significant amount of evidence which pointed to another potential defense.” Id.
Finally, we pointed out that the district court neglected to explain “how the law, when applied to these facts, led to the conclusion that Griffin had effective assistance of counsel.” Id. We thus remanded the case to the district court for clarification.
On remand, the district court reviewed the record and found that an actual conflict of interest existed. The district court relied on two grounds for this conclusion. First, the court acknowledged that Mr. Goldenhersh testified in his deposition that Griffin never told him facts which were at odds with the alibi defense. However, the court noted that the record shows that Mr. Goldenhersh was aware before trial of facts suggesting the availability of a viable innocent bystander defense. The district court also stated that “only Jimmy Smith would have benefited from an alibi defense,” noting that “Jimmy Smith, as a convicted felon was unable to testify” so that “[i]n a joint trial, only [Griffin] was able to take the stand in their behalf.” Finally, the court pointed out that the alibi defense provided the only way in which Mr. Goldenhersh could have represented both clients. Dist.Ct. Order at 12-14.
Based on these considerations, the district court found that a conflict of interest existed between Griffin and Smith such that joint representation of the two was precluded. The court also recognized that the record clearly showed that Griffin had never waived any conflict of interest between Smith and him with respect to their respective defenses. The district court thus granted Griffin’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
IV. Analysis
In Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980), the Supreme Court set out the standard for a finding of ineffective assistance of counsel [887]*887based on multiple representation. There, the Court held that “[i]n order to establish a violation of the Sixth Amendment, a defendant who raised no objection at trial must demonstrate that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer’s performance.” Id. at 348, 100 S.Ct. at 1718. A mere possibility of a conflict is not sufficient to violate the Sixth Amendment. However, once a defendant has shown that an actual conflict exists, no showing of prejudice is required. Id. at 348-50, 100 S.Ct. at 1718-19. In general, trial courts are not required to inquire into the possibility of a conflict and “may assume either that multiple representation entails no conflict or that the lawyer and his clients knowingly accept such risk of conflict as may exist.” Id. at 347, 100 S.Ct. at 1717.5
The determination whether a particular case presents an actual, as opposed to a potential, conflict of interest is not always straightforward. The mere presentation of a “common defense” does not conclusively demonstrate that any conflict of interest was merely potential. “A conflict of interest is present whenever one defendant stands to gain significantly by counsel adducing probative evidence or advancing plausible arguments that are damaging to the cause of a codefendant whom counsel is also representing.” United States ex rel. Gray v. Director, Dept. of Corrections, 721 F.2d 586, 596-97 (7th Cir.1983), quoting Foxworth v. Wainwright, 516 F.2d 1072, 1076 (5th Cir.1975). Conversely, the mere fact that co-defendants abandon a pre-trial stance in which they accuse each other of a crime in favor of a common defense does not lead ineluctably to the conclusion that their attorney faced an actual conflict of interest. United States v. Cirrincione, 780 F.2d 620, 629-31 (7th Cir.1985). When a defendant makes a purely tactical decision to abandon a defense which is adverse to that of a co-defendant, he or she cannot then claim to have been a victim of ineffective assistance of counsel. United States ex rel. Cole v. Lane, 752 F.2d 1210, 1220 (7th Cir.1985).
Thus, in circumstances such as the present ease, where a defendant has pursued a common defense rather than an alternative defense adverse to the interests of a eodefendant, a showing of ineffective assistance of counsel requires that the complaining defendant show “specific instances where [his] attorney could have, and would have, done something different if that attorney had represented only one defendant.” Cirrincione, 780 F.2d at 630-31. However, these specific instances need not be taken solely from the conduct of the trial. Instances in which choices of strategy would have been made differently had there been separate representation may also demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel. “The test for conflict between defendants is not whether the defenses actually chosen by them are consistent but whether in making the choice of defenses the interests of the defendants were in conflict.” Gray, 721 F.2d at 597.
Applying these standards to the present case, we find that the district court was correct in ruling that an actual conflict of interest existed in the joint representation of Griffin and Smith.
Mr. Goldenhersh was possessed of information which would have suggested to an unconflicted counsel the availability of a defense focused on discrediting the identification of Griffin and shifting the blame onto Jimmy Smith. Whether or not Mr. Golden-hersh was actually told by Griffin that he had been present at the scene of the shooting,6 [888]*888Mr. Goldenhersh did know that Griffin had stated earlier to Derango and to Officer Moore that he had been there and could identify Smith as a shooter. Mr. Golden-hersh had also received discovery from the prosecution which included police reports indicating that Kelliek had identified Griffin as the man who shot Sims and reports describing the conflicting versions of Walker’s dying declaration. Prior to trial, Mr. Goldenhersh received a memorandum from the prosecution purporting to describe the revised testimony which Robinson intended to give. Trial Tr. at 107. In her testimony, Robinson identified Griffin as one of the two men who arrived at the scene in the Cadillac. Trial Tr. at 226. Given all of this available information, we cannot accept the conclusion that Mr. Goldenhersh was unaware of the difficulties with the alibi defense and the possibility of an innocent bystander defense.
The question, then, is what Mr. Golden-hersh was obligated to do with this information in order to provide effective assistance of counsel. Of course, the mere fact that a defendant chooses one of two available defenses cannot establish ineffective assistance of counsel, even if the defendant makes a bad choice. However, counsel may be ineffective if the joint representation precludes an obvious and viable alternative defense when the common defense is so completely untenable. Failure to consider the possible defenses with a mind to the best interests of a client is particularly likely when the alternative to a common defense is helpful to one client but is highly detrimental to the other (as was the case here).
Here, in spite of all the information suggesting the likely untruth of Griffin’s alibi and the near certainty that it would not be believed by a jury, there is no suggestion in the record that Mr. Goldenhersh pressed Griffin as to the validity of the alibi, discussed with him the possibility of a bystander defense or pointed out the comparative weakness of the State’s case against him as opposed to the case against Smith. Even if Griffin did represent that the alibi story was true, an effective attorney would have discussed with Griffin the disadvantages of linking his fortunes to those of Smith, given the strength of the eyewitness identifications of Smith and Smith’s extensive criminal history.7 An attorney free to consider Griffin’s singular interests would, particularly in light of Griffin’s waffling on his story, have pointed out the possibility of resting a defense on the weakness and contradictions in the testimony implicating him in the shootings. This approach would have compared favorably with bringing in an alibi which left Griffin with the task of refuting the evidence against Smith as well.
This ease is thus distinguishable from Cir-rincione and Cole. In Cirrincione, the defendant claimed that he refrained from testifying at his joint trial with his father because he feared that his testimony would hurt his [889]*889father. The court, however, found that it was “not clear how [his] testimony ... could have hurt [his father]” and that it was “highly unlikely that Tom refused to take the stand” to protect his father. Similarly, the court found little merit in the defendant’s contention that he was damaged by his inability to cross-examine his father when there was “nothing in the record inculpatory of [the defendant] that was not already corroborated by other witnesses’ testimony.” Cirrincione, 780 F.2d at 631.
In Cole, the defendants never moved to sever the trial despite statements that each had given to police admitting that both were present at the scene of an armed robbery but accusing the other of having taken the money and carried the gun. At trial the defendants abandoned their mutual accusations and presented a common defense in which they attacked the credibility of prosecution witnesses and explained why they were in the area where the armed robbery occurred. Cole, 752 F.2d at 1220. The facts of Cole do not suggest that the decision to pursue a joint defense redounded to the detriment of one co-defendant and to the advantage of the other. The two co-defendants were in apparently equivalent positions ' and seemingly made a joint decision to give up accusing each other and gain the advantages of a consistent defense. There is thus nothing about Cole which suggests that separate counsel would have done anything differently.8
The current case, however, is not one, like Cirrincione, in which co-defendants gambled on a common,defense which was as likely to prove advantageous to one as to the other. Nor is it a case, like Cole, in which the avenues of inquiry closed off by the joint representation were of little consequence. In contrast to these eases, the record here suggests that both before and during the trial, Mr. Goldenhersh’s choices were unacceptably constrained by the joint representation of Griffin and Smith and that these constraints worked to the. unilateral disadvantage of Griffin.
The decision to present the alibi defense was, as the district court noted, clearly favorable for Smith’s defense but likely detrimental for Griffin’s. Without Griffin’s alibi testimony, Smith did not have a leg to stand on in presenting a defense. He was unequivocally identified as having shot two of the victims and he had an extensive criminal record which effectively precluded him from testifying. Griffin, on the other hand, had the option of pursuing a defense based on the inconsistencies in the testimony identifying him as a shooter.9 These inconsistencies included: (i) the conflict between Kellick’s testimony that Griffin was already in the apartment when he and Sims arrived and Robinson’s testimony that Griffin was one of the two men who followed Kellick and Sims in; (ii) the conflict between Officer Settles’ report that Walker’s dying declaration was that “Lee” shot him and Trooper Rice’s account that Walker said that “Lee’s friend” shot him; and (iii) the implied conflict between Kellick’s identification of Griffin as the one man already in the apartment and Walker’s statement, attested to by all three witnesses, that Jimmy Smith killed his girlfriend, Christi Smith. (This last statement presents an implied conflict because Walker also said that Christi Smith was dead when he arrived at the apartment. Thus Walker’s [890]*890identification of Jimmy Smith as her killer was likely based on Jimmy’s having been present when Walker arrived. Robinson, however, testified that Griffin and another man had left the apartment by the time Walker, arrived and that they went back in only after Walker.)
In the. face of the uncontradieted evidence placing Smith at the scene during the shootings, Griffin’s testifying to an alibi which involved Smith could do nothing but damage his own case. While a defense based on simply raising doubts about the credibility of the testimony implicating Griffin in the shootings might well have been unsuccessful, the joint alibi defense was nearly as weak as no defense at all.10 There was only the slimmest chance, if any, that a jury would believe the alibi in the face of the consistent eyewitness testimony placing Griffin and Smith at the scene of the murders. On the other hand, an attorney representing only Griffin could have impeached the identifications of Griffin as a shooter by exploiting obvious inconsistencies in testimony. The joint representation prevented Mr. Golden-hersh from exploiting the disparity in strength of the respective prosecution cases against Griffin and Smith.
It is true that the innocent bystander defense was not promising. It is often the unenviable job of defense counsel to choose among unpromising defenses. However, when an actual conflict of interest due to joint representation constrains an attorney to choose the hopeless in favor of the unpromising, the defendant has received ineffective assistance of counsel.
The disadvantage to Griffin which the joint alibi defense unavoidably imposed was exacerbated by Mr. Goldenhersh’s conduct of the trial. The extent to which the scapegoat argument relating to Griffin’s brother’s killing could have been helpful even to Smith is highly questionable. In any event, it is most unlikely that any attorney representing only Griffin would have pursued such an unpromising tack. An unconflicted attorney would not have had to resort to the suggestion that the victims implicated Griffin in order to frame him because they were responsible for his brother’s death a few weeks earlier. Such a flimsy theory may have been the only thing available to Smith given the consistent testimony identifying him as a shooter, but no effective attorney representing Griffin alone would have resorted to it.
Finally, Mr. Goldenhersh was apparently so confused by his joint representation of the two defendants that he argued in closing that Walker, in his dying declaration, “told them ... that Lee Griffin shot my girl friend.” Trial Tr. at 488. In fact, the three witnesses to Walker’s dying declaration unanimously reported that Walker said that it was Smith who shot his girlfriend, even though they differed as to what Walker said about his own attacker. Mr. Goldenhersh’s statement was not a mere slip of the tongue. Mr. Goldenhersh argued that Walker’s identification was unreliable by suggesting that he could not have known who shot his girlfriend since she was already dead when he arrived. In pursuing this effort, Mr. Goldenhersh suggested that “it could be argued that because Lee Griffin allegedly then shot him, that he jumped to the conclusion that he also shot his girl friend.” Id. Thus, Mr. Goldenhersh not only told the jury incorrectly that Griffin was accused of shooting Christi Smith. But he also accepted as a premise for his argument that Walker had said that Griffin had shot him. In fact, of course, the witnesses to the declaration disagreed as to whether Walker implicated Griffin or “Lee’s friend.” Such a prejudicial confusion of the evidence would not have occurred if Griffin had had his own representation.
In conclusion, the record in this case undoubtedly provides “specific instances where [Griffin’s attorney] could have, and would have, done something different if that attorney had represented only one defendant.” Cirrincione, 780 F.2d at 630-31. The record therefore supports the district court’s conclusion that an actual conflict of interest infect[891]*891ed the joint representation of Griffin and Jimmy Smith. Lastly, the district court found, and we agree, that the record discloses no waiver of this conflict on Griffin’s part. In fact, Mr. Goldenhersh never discussed the potential for conflict of interest with Griffin. Such an unwaived actual conflict of interest is a violation of the Sixth Amendment and requires the granting of Griffin’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the district court. The writ shall issue, thereby releasing Griffin from custody, unless the State of Illinois elects to retry him within one hundred twenty (120) days from the issuance of this Court’s final mandate.
Affirmed.