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Assignment of New Counsel and Adjournment of Trial Over Defendant’s Objection Was Proper—Defense Counsel Had Represented the Confidential Informant in the Past—District Attorney Objected to Preclusion of Confidential Informant’s Testimony as a Solution

The Third Department determined the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it ordered, over defendant’s objection, the assignment of new counsel because of a conflict of interest.  Assigned counsel had represented the confidential informant (CI).  The court was faced with either assigning new counsel or ruling that the CI could not testify:

County Court did not abuse its discretion in substituting assigned counsel against defendant’s wishes … . A criminal defendant’s right to counsel of his or her choice is not absolute and may properly be circumscribed where defense counsel’s continued representation of the defendant would present a conflict of interest … . Here, upon learning of the CI’s identity,[FN2] defendant’s original assigned attorney informed the court that he possessed confidential information from his prior representation of the CI that would affect his ability to cross-examine that witness, thereby establishing the existence of an actual conflict of interest … . Faced with “the dilemma of having to choose between undesirable alternatives” in addressing the conflict …, County Court’s decision to assign new counsel and adjourn the trial rather than preclude the testimony of the CI altogether constituted a proper exercise of its broad discretion under the circumstances presented … . People v Robinson, 2014 NY Slip Op 07018, 3rd Dept 10-16-14

 

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