UNITED STATES V. ELY
719 F.2d 902 (7th Cir.1983)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Ely (D) challenged his convictions for possession of cocaine in
violation of 21 U.S.C.S. 841 and failure to appear in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. 3150 in a
United States District Court. This was an appeal based on denial of counsel of choice.
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.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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