861 So. 2d 118 - State v. Cisco’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

34 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If a defense attorney owes duties to a party whose interests are adverse to those of the defendant, then an actual conflict exists. The interest of the other client and the defendant are sufficiently adverse if it is shown that the attorney owes a duty to the defendant to take some action that could be detrimental to the other client.”

   16 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Delaune · 88 So. 3d 590 - State v. Gorman

2. “We stress the importance of the trial judge’s protecting the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights, even if a defendant expresses a desire to proceed with conflicted counsel. Because courts “possess an independent interest in ensuring that criminal trials are conducted within the ethical standards of the profession and that the legal proceedings appear fair to all that observe them,;,]” Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 160 , 108 S.Ct. 1692, 1698 , 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988), the defendant’s ability to waive certain conflicts is not unfettered. Id. For example, in United States v. Fulton, 5 F.3d 605, 612 (2d Cir. 1993), the court stated, “When a lawyer’s conflict, actual or potential, may result in inadequate representation of a defendant or jeopardize the federal court’s institutional interest in the rendition of a just verdict, a trial judge has discretion to disqualify an attorney or | .^decline a proffer of waiver.” Nonetheless, a trial court ruling on potential conflicts when raised pretrial is entitled to broad, discretion, regardless of whether the court permits or refuses enrollment of potentially conflicted counsel after a valid waiver. Wheat, 486 U.S. at 164 , 108 S.Ct. at 1700 . [Footnote omitted.]'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State of Louisiana v. Jeffrey Clark

3. “[T]he trial judge in this particular case could have taken a number of simple steps to safeguard the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights.... [F]or example, the trial judge could have easily appointed another attorney to represent the defendant, since on each occasion when the issue arose trial would not transpire for many months or years in the future.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 217 So. 3d 651 - State v. Thomas