Supreme Court of Alabama, 2011

Lane v. State

Lane v. State
Supreme Court of Alabama · Decided August 19, 2011 · Malone, Woodall, Bolin, Parker, Murdock, Stuart, Shaw, Main, Wise
80 So. 3d 303; 2011 Ala. LEXIS 133; 2011 WL 3632076 (Southern Reporter, Third Series)

Lane v. State

Dissenting Opinion

STUART, Justice

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent from the Court’s decision to grant Thomas Robert Lane’s application for rehearing and to withdraw the opinion issued on May 27, 2011, and quash the writ. I disagree with the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals that the trial court erred in removing Lane’s appointed counsel. I believe that the record will reflect that a conflict of interest or the potential for a conflict of interest existed and that the trial court properly granted the State’s motion to dismiss Lane’s appointed counsel. Moreover, if I were to determine that the trial court erred in dismissing Lane’s appointed counsel, I would conclude that the error was not structural. The proper inquiry is whether the indigent defendant suffered prejudice by the erroneous removal of court-appointed counsel. Cf. State v. Reeves, 11 So.3d 1031 (La. 2009); Daniels v. Lafler, 501 F.3d 735, 740 (6th Cir. 2007); and United States v. Basham, 561 F.3d 302 (4th Cir. 2009).

Opinion of the Court

On Application for Rehearing

PER CURIAM.

APPLICATION FOR REHEARING GRANTED; OPINION OF MAY 27, 2011, WITHDRAWN; WRIT QUASHED.

MALONE, C.J., and WOODALL, BOLIN, PARKER, and MURDOCK, JJ., concur. STUART, J., dissents. SHAW, MAIN, and WISE, JJ., recuse themselves.*

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