Commonwealth ex rel. Whitling v. Russell

Dissenting Opinion by

Montgomery, J.:

Appellant contends that after he had retained capable counsel for his own defense, his counsel did, without the appellant’s permission and over his protests, represent a codefendant in the trial of his case. A defendant’s desire to have the undivided assistance of counsel of his own choosing should be respected, since the additional burden of representing another party may conceivably impair counsel’s effectiveness.

The general rule is that an attorney is disqualified from representing interests in conflict with each other. This precludes counsel from…