Maynard v. Com.
| Decision Date | 01 March 1974 |
| Citation | 507 S.W.2d 143 |
| Parties | Garvin MAYNARD et al., Appellants, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Anthony M. Wilhoit, J. Vincent Aprile, II, Frankfort, for appellants.
Ed W. Hancock, Atty. Gen., Mary Ann Delaney, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee.
CATINNA, Commissioner.
On April 5, 1973, Garvin Maynard, Donald Ralph Starnes, and Jimmy Dale Maynard were convicted of shooting into or aiding and abetting shooting into a dwelling house, and each was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
Each was represented by the same court-appointed counsel, Robert Wilson. At a pretrial hearing on March, 1, 1973, Mr. Wilson made this statement to the court: 'I can't possibly defend three of them, and if the lawyer could defend them, that is, provided I could defend them, the defense Jimmy Dale Maynard has got compared with the defense of Donald Ralph and Garvin, it would just be impossible.'
At a March 7, 1973, hearing the motion for appointment of separate counsel was overruled. To this ruling Mr. Wilson replied:
'I would like to state for the record I cannot adequately defend three people that have antagonistic defenses and I have found, from interviewing them, that they are antagonistic.'
The appellants allege prejudice from this denial of separate counsel. In Maye v. Commonwealth, Ky., 386 S.W.2d 731 (1965), this court strongly indicated that failure to appoint separate counsel upon motion would constitute prejudicial error and stated as follows:
* * *.'
The American Bar Association's approved draft on Standards Relating to the Prosecution Function and the Defense Function published by the Institute of Judicial Administration states in the Defense Function, Section 3.5(b):
'The potential for conflict of interest in representing multiple defendants is so grave that ordinarily a lawyer should decline to act for more than one of several co-defendants except in unusual situations when, after careful investigation, it is clear that no conflict is likely to develop and when ...
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...case. Yustas's interpretation of his position was clearly correct. Commonwealth v. Holder, Ky., 705 S.W.2d 907 (1986); Maynard v. Commonwealth, Ky., 507 S.W.2d 143 (1974). Appellant's complaint that she was denied the opportunity to call Yustas rings hollow in light of the fact that she had......
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...plea he becomes a likely adversary of the other, and the single attorney necessarily is caught in the cross-fire. In Maynard v. Commonwealth, Ky., 507 S.W.2d 143, 144 (1975), a conviction was reversed on the ground that one attorney could not properly or adequately represent defendants with......
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Pete v. State
...harm to a defendant. See Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 71, 62 S.Ct. 457, 465, 86 L.Ed. 680, 699 (1942); Maynard v. Commonwealth, 507 S.W.2d 143 (Ky.1974).2 Appellant claimed self-defense; his co-defendant merely denied that she attacked the complaining witness with a ...