Commonwealth v. Milley

This case presents the unusual allegation that the defendant’s trial counsel performed under a genuine conflict of interest that arose from a pattern of his appointments to cases in the Superior Court, as described in Commonwealth v. Mills, 51 Mass. App. Ct. 366, 367 n.2 (2001), S.C., 436 Mass. 387 (2002). The defendant asserts that his counsel had a financial interest in continuing to be appointed to cases, and that that interest conflicted with his duty to represent the defendant. Acting on a motion for a new trial, a Superior Court judge concluded that the defendant established that his…