United States v. Priscilla Dominguez Laura

OPINION OF THE COURT

A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, Jr., Circuit Judge.

I

The right to the assistance of counsel is a critical element of our American system of jurisprudence. A defendant’s decision to exercise that right and to place his liberty and possibly his life in the hands of an attorney of his choice may not be lightly tampered with. In this case, the district judge dismissed one of the defendant’s attorneys without making any findings to justify that dismissal. Because we believe that this dismissal without adequate findings may have violated the defendant’s right to counsel, we will reverse…