Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

The Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel includes the right to be represented by counsel whose loyalties are undivided.[238]  “[T]he Sixth Amendment also guarantees each criminal defendant the right to assistance of counsel “unhindered by a conflict of interests.”[239]  This guarantee is so important that, unlike with other Sixth Amendment claims, when a defendant alleges an unconstitutional actual conflict of interest, “prejudice must be presumed,” and harmless error analysis does not apply.[240]

[238] United States v. Partin, 601 F.2d 1000, 1006 (9th Cir. 1979).

[239] United States v. Wheat, 813 F.2d 1399, 1402 (9th Cir. 1987), citing Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 355 (1980) (Marshall, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), quoting Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 483, n. 5, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 1178, n.5 (1978)).

[240] Lockhart v. Terhune, 243 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir. 2001)(citing Delgado v. Lewis, 223 F.3d 976, 981 (9th Cir. 2000)(citing Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 350 (1980), and Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259, 268 (1984)); United States v. Allen, 831 F.2d 1487, 1494-95 (9th Cir. 1987)).