U.S. v. Jones
| Decision Date | 23 August 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-1001(L).,No. 01-1668(CON).,01-1001(L).,01-1668(CON). |
| Citation | 381 F.3d 114 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Luke JONES, also known as Mega, Aaron Harris, also known as Dog, also known as Toast, also known as DMX, also known as Hit Man Sosa, Leonard Troy Jones, also known as X, Lyle Jones, also known as Speedy, Willie Nunley, also known as Man, Eugene Rhodes, also known as Gene, also known as Sprout, David Nunley, also known as Boobie, Craig Baldwin, also known as One Eye Craig, John Foster, also known as D.C., also known as Troy Kelly, also known as Anthony Johnson, also known as John Billups, also known as David Nunley, Rasheen Lewis, also known as Rasheed Lewis, also known as Noriega, also known as Francis G. Sheen, William Gaitlin, Kevin Jackson, also known as Kong, Kenneth Richardson, also known as Primo, also known as Tyree, also known as Rico, and Leslie Morris, also known as BooBoo, Defendants, Lance Jones and Lonnie Jones, also known as LT, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, Alan H. Nevas, J.
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William M. Bloss, New Haven, Connecticut (Jacobs, Grudberg, Belt & Dow, P.C., New Haven, Connecticut, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellant Lonnie Jones.
Earle Giovanniello, New Haven, Connecticut, for Defendant-Appellant Lance Jones.
Alex V. Hernandez, Assistant United States Attorney, Bridgeport, Connecticut (Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney, Alina P. Marquez, Jeffrey A. Meyer, Robert M. Spector, Assistant United States Attorneys, District of Connecticut, Bridgeport, Connecticut, of counsel), for Appellee United States.
Before: NEWMAN, CARDAMONE, and KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.
Defendants Lance Jones and Lonnie Jones appeal their judgments of conviction and sentences entered on December 28, 2000 and December 12, 2001, respectively, in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Nevas, J.). On July 25, 2001 a jury found Lonnie Jones guilty of unlawfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 and of possessing a firearm with an altered serial number in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(k). On December 10, 2001 the district court sentenced Lonnie Jones to a term of life imprisonment for the conspiracy conviction and to a concurrent term of five years imprisonment for the firearms conviction. On September 27, 2000 a jury found Lance Jones guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On December 21, 2000 the district court sentenced Lance Jones to a term of 293 months imprisonment.
These convictions1 were the end of a case that began with a February 2000 federal grand jury indictment against numerous defendants alleged to be involved with a narcotics trafficking conspiracy at the P.T. Barnum public housing project in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and elsewhere in that city. Defendants raise a number of objections to the proceedings below, only one of which warrants discussion. The remaining issues are without merit and are disposed of in a summary order filed concurrently with this opinion. We consider here whether the district court erred when it disqualified Lonnie Jones' attorney based on its conclusion that an unwaivable conflict of interest existed.
Lonnie Jones was scheduled to go to trial on November 8, 2000 along with a number of the other defendants charged in the indictments handed down in February 2000. On November 6 the government filed a motion to disqualify Jones' retained counsel, James Ruane, Esq. The government's motion was based on evidence seized during a search of accused drug dealer Frank Estrada's apartment. On November 2 Estrada had been arrested and his apartment searched in connection with suspected distribution of narcotics in an area of the P.T. Barnum housing project different from the one in which the conspiracy with which Jones was charged operated. Attorney Ruane represented both Lonnie Jones and Estrada at the time of Estrada's arrest.
During the search of Estrada's apartment, police found a copy of the discovery materials provided to Ruane by the government with respect to Jones' case attached to an original sheet of letterhead from attorney Ruane's office. Those materials included documents that discussed and described by brand name the narcotics sold by the Jones family in the middle court area of P.T. Barnum as well as other brand name narcotics distributed in areas different from the middle court of P.T. Barnum by another drug trafficking organization. In the unredacted version of the report containing this information, Estrada was identified as the leader of the other organization. However, in the copy of the report provided to attorney Ruane, Estrada's name was redacted as he had not yet been charged or arrested. When the materials were seized, there was a highlighter mark indicating the paragraph that discussed the brand names of heroin distributed by Estrada's organization. The government claimed that around the time these reports were provided to attorney Ruane, the Estrada organization stopped using those brand names on their narcotics.
The government moved to disqualify attorney Ruane from representing Lonnie Jones based on this information, arguing that there were a number of serious conflicts that necessitated his removal. They stressed that not only were there already existing conflicts serious enough to justify disqualification, but that there were a number of potential conflicts that would become apparent as the case proceeded.
The district court held a conference in chambers on the morning of November 6, 2000 to address the government's motion to disqualify Jones' attorney, Ruane. Ruane, but not Jones, was at this meeting. The lawyer did not object to Jones' absence. At the meeting the district court expressed concern that due to the ongoing nature of the government's investigation of Estrada, it would be difficult, at that point to attempt to explain to Lonnie Jones what the potential conflicts of interest were since even the lawyers conceded that it was then hard to predict. The court also stated that if Jones were to be convicted under these circumstances there was a good chance he could bring a successful appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel. It noted that it would consider whether the alleged conflict could be waived, or if, instead, it required attorney Ruane's disqualification.
The next day the same participants met in chambers. Again, attorney Ruane did not object to defendant Jones' absence, although he did state he was withdrawing from Estrada's case. The government argued that the lawyer should still be disqualified from representing Lonnie Jones because his withdrawal would not affect any of the possible sources of a serious conflict. Those sources were identified as the possibility of: (1) an ineffective assistance claim based on disclosure of confidential information; (2) Ruane being called as a witness to an alleged criminal agreement between Lonnie Jones and Frank Estrada; (3) a grand jury investigation into how Estrada obtained the materials that could lead to subpoenaing of attorney Ruane; and (4) criminal charges being brought against attorney Ruane due to his involvement in the transmission of materials to Estrada.
Later that day, after giving his lawyer time to speak with defendant Jones about the situation, defendant was arraigned in open court, and remained in court for the hearing that addressed the government's disqualification motion. The court began by stating that the record should reflect that it had conducted in camera hearings with the government and defense counsel. It continued by asking attorney Ruane if he had anything to report from his discussions with his client. Ruane stated he had made Jones aware of the government's claims and of his options with respect to counsel. The lawyer conceded that he could very easily end up being a witness in the government's case-in-chief, but that his client, defendant Jones, was prepared to waive the resulting conflict arising from Ruane's possible role as a witness.
The court declined to entertain the waiver, and ruled instead that there was an unwaivable conflict. It found the issues raised were serious, that the potential for conflict was real, and that if such conflict occurred it would be extremely damaging to defendant Jones. Accordingly, the district court disqualified attorney Ruane and severed defendant Jones' case from that of his co-defendants. Eventually, new counsel was appointed to represent Jones. At no time between November 2000 and defendant's trial in July 2001 did substituted counsel file a motion for reconsideration of the disqualification, or lodge any objection to the manner in which the district court conducted the in camera conferences on the government's motion to disqualify.
Defendant Jones now raises two objections to these proceedings. First, he contends the district court erred when it deemed any conflict unwaivable, since the government failed to establish that there was an actual or potentially severe conflict. Second, for the first time on appeal, Jones declares that notwithstanding the disqualification issue, the district court committed error mandating reversal of his conviction when it held hearings on the government's disqualification motion in his absence. We discuss each challenge in turn.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence." U.S. Const. amend. VI. The Supreme Court has nevertheless recognized that the right to choose one's own counsel is not absolute. Wheat v. United States, ...
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