People v. Wood

844 P.2d 1299, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 1923, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 440, 1992 WL 358295
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 3, 1992
DocketNo. 91CA1200
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 844 P.2d 1299 (People v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Wood, 844 P.2d 1299, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 1923, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 440, 1992 WL 358295 (Colo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge METZGER.

Defendant, Randy Wood, appeals the trial court’s order denying his Crim.P. 35(c) motion to withdraw his plea and vacate his sentence. We affirm.

On November 28, 1989, defendant was apprehended in his pickup truck near a farmhouse that had just been burglarized. In the pickup, police found a rifle belonging to the victims, and defendant was arrested and charged with burglary and theft. Although the police further suspected that he had an accomplice, and that that accomplice was Robert Moss, they had no evidence of Moss’ participation.

Defendant was accorded representation by a deputy public defender, and later, pursuant to a plea bargain, he pled guilty to one count of criminal trespass and the original charges were dismissed.

During these events, the public defender representing defendant also represented Moss on unrelated charges. Following the entry of his guilty plea, the defendant advised a probation officer that the other participant in the burglary had been Moss.

The public defender then moved to withdraw from representation of defendant, citing a conflict of interest. The trial court granted the motion and appointed a second attorney, who represented defendant at sentencing. Thereafter, a third attorney was appointed to represent defendant for his Crim.P. 35(c) motion and for this appeal.

I.

Defendant first contends the trial court erred in finding that no conflict of interest existed in the public defender’s representation of both defendant and Moss. He argues that this conflict violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. We disagree.

The constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel may be violated when an accused is represented by counsel who simultaneously represents a competing interest. Armstrong v. People, 701 P.2d 17 (Colo.1985). But, the determination whether an attorney should be disqualified because of a conflict of interest is a matter largely within the discretion of the trial court. People v. Reyes, 728 P.2d 349 (Colo.App.1986).

If defendant raises no objection at trial, he must show that an actual conflict of interest existed and that it adversely affected his representation. United States v. Newman, 733 F.2d 1395 (10th Cir.1984).

In cases in which a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is based on multiple representation, some specific instance of prejudice, some real conflict of interest, must be demonstrated. People v. Romero, 189 Colo. 526, 543 P.2d 56 (1975).

Here, defendant claims that the public defender’s representation of him and Moss (on another charge) created a conflict of interest because Moss was also a suspect in the burglary for which defendant was charged. The record, however, indicates the contrary.

[1302]*1302At the hearing on defendant’s Crim.P. 35(c) motion, the public defender testified that she had contacted the district attorney and was told that Moss was not a suspect. Additionally, the public defender was told that fingerprints taken from the crime scene did not belong to Moss and that the district attorney and police had no evidence connecting Moss to the burglary. The district attorney testified that Moss was not a suspect and that he had informed the public defender that no charges were being brought against Moss concerning the burglary.

The trial court specifically found that, before the defendant’s admission that Moss was a co-participant in the burglary, there was no reason to suppose that the public defender’s simultaneous representation of Moss, on an unrelated charge, adversely affected the exercise of the attorney’s professional judgment on behalf of the defendant. Thus, it concluded, defendant failed to establish that an actual conflict of interest existed. See United States v. Burney, 756 F.2d 787 (10th Cir.1985) (to establish actual conflict, defendant must point to specific instances in the record to suggest that actual conflict of interest exists).

A case with similar facts was addressed by the United States Supreme Court in Dukes v. Warden, 406 U.S. 250, 92 S.Ct. 1551, 32 L.Ed.2d 45 (1972). There, a defendant was represented by an attorney who also represented two women in an unrelated charge in which the defendant was also involved. The defendant refused to accept a plea bargain and defense counsel requested to withdraw from representation. Later, defendant decided he wanted to enter a plea, and another attorney from the law firm which had previously represented him in the same charge negotiated a plea. The first counsel, in the unrelated matter, urged leniency for the two women by placing a greater amount of culpability on the defendant. Defendant argued that the first attorney’s conflict of interest rendered his plea involuntary and unintelligent.

The Dukes Court concluded that there was nothing in the record to indicate that the alleged conflict resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel so as to render defendant’s guilty plea involuntary and unintelligent. There were no findings that either attorney had induced the defendant to plead guilty in furtherance of a plan to obtain a more favorable consideration for the other clients. Neither did the record disclose, nor was it claimed, that the defendant had received misleading advice from either attorney which led him to plead guilty.

The Court also noted that the trial court had specifically found that the defendant knew that his counsel was representing two other defendants in an unrelated case, yet he had not complained to the trial court that he was not satisfied with the attorney’s representation. It held, therefore, that any alleged conflict of interest did not in any way affect defendant’s plea.

Similarly, defendant here has failed to establish that he was adversely affected by the public defender's representation. Defendant concedes that he faced a very strong prosecution case on the burglary and theft charges. However, he succeeded, through counsel’s efforts, in pleading guilty to one count of criminal trespass, for which he received a sentence of two years in the county jail (later reduced to one year). Also, he was informed that there was absolutely no evidence linking Moss to the crime. And, as in Dukes, defendant was fully aware that the public defender represented Moss on the unrelated charge.

Defendant has not claimed, nor does the record show, that he was forced or coerced into accepting the plea disposition. Further, he has failed to point to any specific portions of the record in which a conflict of interest had an adverse affect on his representation.

Finally, we note that defendant withheld the information concerning Moss from his attorney. This information may have helped him receive an even better plea bargain than the one he obtained. But, having been the architect of his own house of cards, defendant cannot now seek to profit from its collapse. See People v. Mounts,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
844 P.2d 1299, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 1923, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 440, 1992 WL 358295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wood-coloctapp-1992.