United States v. Ely

719 F.2d 902 (7th Cir.1983)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ely (D) was indicted along with two other men for distributing and conspiring to distribute cocaine. D was the middleman with Dawson, his supplier, and Griswold, a dealer to whom D supplied. Griswold and Dawson pled guilty and were sentenced to 10 and 15 years respectively. Dawson moved for a reduction in sentence, that motion was denied, and he appealed. D failed to appear in court with the others and became a fugitive. They were eventually caught, and D eventually received a 30-year sentence while the other two got 10 and 15 years. Ely (D) was arraigned on a criminal matter and requested court-appointed counsel. The court appointed Brady. Ely stated, 'Mr. Bartley had represented business of mine at one time, and I have -- I feel a more closer relationship with Mr. Bartley in understanding what is before me. . . .' Although Bartley was willing to accept the appointment and had represented other indigent criminal defendants before the district judge, the judge refused to appoint him to represent Ely: 'the Court appoints an attorney for you under the program that this Court has of attorneys on its list and in some relative degree of sequence and frequency. . . . I know that Mr. Brady is a thoroughly competent and experienced attorney in this Court. I don't have anything different to say about Mr. Bartley, but we cannot start the practice of allowing defendants to select attorneys to be appointed.' The trial judge refused. D appealed. D contends the judge violated his Sixth Amendment rights by denying him his counsel of choice.