Smith v. Superior Court

Defendant Jimmy Lee Smith petitions for a writ of mandate to compel the Los Angeles Superior Court to vacate its order removing I. A. Kanarek as his attorney of record in a pending murder trial.

We adjudicate here the unprecedented issue of whether a trial judge has or should have the power to remove a court-appointed defense attorney, over the objections of both the attorney and the defendant, on the ground of the judge’s subjective opinion that the attorney is “incompetent” because of ignorance of the law to try the particular case before him. We conclude that such a ruling is beyond the…